


Necromancer

by V-chan2k6 (likethedirection)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Badass!Tenten, Canon Divergence, Gen, Gen Fic, Preteen Ninja Drama, Sasuke Has Issues, friendship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-14
Updated: 2007-09-06
Packaged: 2018-01-20 02:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 82,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1492795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likethedirection/pseuds/V-chan2k6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uchiha Sasuke was holding on to something.  In one chance encounter, she brought it back to life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Brought over from its original home at FanFiction.net with minor edits. Originally posted in (goodness) Fall 2006.
> 
> This story began as a oneshot, but it wouldn't stop poking me until I had grown it into nearly 88,000 words about these two crazy kids. My writing style has definitely changed since I originally posted this thing, and I am exercising tremendous restraint in trying to keep the edits strictly technical. The original fic is still posted on Fanfiction.net [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3105605/1/Necromancer).
> 
> Note: This story is also in the process of being translated into Vietnamese by [SunRises6](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1977399/)! It can be found on [VNSharing.net](http://vnsharing.net/forum/showthread.php?t=670114) and [WordPress](http://sunrises6.wordpress.com/multichaptered/necromancer/).
> 
> Enjoy!

During her days at the Academy, the boys would sometimes dare her to come here. Any working pair of eyes said it was a target practice ground. But grade-school rumors, which at that time were decidedly twice as accurate, claimed that it was a haunted site, where the ghosts of the slaughtered Uchiha clan waited for living souls to devour.

She had asked, at the time, why an already-dead person would want to devour anything in the first place. That was apparently the most ridiculous question her peers had ever heard.

Today, Tenten could guess that many of those peers were close by, challenging each other at the public training grounds. Talk of ghosts, ravenous or otherwise, had paled in the glory of first missions and crushes, but still, she liked coming here now and then. She was pretty sure she hadn't been devoured yet.

Her weapons lay strewn about the small clearing, for the moment forgotten. Only the eight kunai she had left mattered. Eight kunai and eight targets.

Refusing to indulge herself by catching her breath, she readied the weapons and prepared to try the maneuver again. After her humiliating defeat in the Chuunin Exams only one month before, she couldn't afford to waste a moment.

Crouching low, Tenten closed her eyes and silently asked that the Uchiha ghosts wish her well.

-

**Chapter 1: Beginning**

-

He had to get away from them. 

At the moment, he blamed Kakashi-sensei. If he had just let the sky fall and come on time for once, Sakura wouldn't have complained, and Naruto wouldn't have suggested that they start on their own. (That, and though he wouldn't admit it, he had always viewed Kakashi-sensei as much-needed backup when Sakura decided to get girly.)

Sasuke really wasn't in the mood for it today. So when their twisted carousel began with a blushing request for "one-on-one training" - honestly, what was he supposed to think? - which was then followed by a seething interjection from Naruto, he'd decided that a substitution jutsu would have to do, and they could come after him when Kakashi-sensei showed up.

Once he had gotten an acceptable distance between himself and his teammates, Sasuke allowed himself a low sigh. Things had been harder with them lately.

The ground was still soft from a night drenched in rain. Here in the wooded section of the training grounds, only fractured sunlight could find its way through the leaves, and the wind threw small sprays of moisture against his face as he moved across the muddied path. Birds and insects were his only company here. This was solitude. He'd thought he hated it, once.

Then again, the child who had formed that opinion had also been a fool.

Before his thoughts could travel too deep, a human voice penetrated the stillness. Sasuke turned his head toward the sound.

It had come from his right, where a less-traveled path veered into the brush. Sasuke frowned; he knew that path. The little fool who hated solitude had taken that path many times, now and then alone, though usually shadowed by another. But it had been a long time.

The first noise was the only one. All he could hear now was heavy breathing, high in pitch, quick in pace. Someone was working hard.

Sasuke couldn't remember the last time anyone had practiced there, himself included. Then again, after that day ( _silence so thick that it stole his breath, blood coloring his senses in copper and crimson_ ), several months had passed before anyone had gotten up the courage. That clearing had been well known as a favorite of the Uchiha clan.

Since then, the only other news he had heard of it were the rumors, cruel in their ignorance, that it was haunted by the ghosts of the Uchihas who had died that day. His loved ones.

There had been moments that he was tempted to go there himself and listen for them. He had never expected to actually hear someone.

If nothing else, it was a little fool's glimmer of curiosity that took him down that path now. The trees had grown since he had last been here, and he never remembered having to duck so low or so often, but the path itself was clear.

No more than twenty paces found him at the broken tree he'd used to climb, the one that had somehow grown split into three trunks. (He _had used that tree to explain to Sasuke the concept of three-man teams on the day of_ his _graduation. "Each trunk takes its own path, but the tree's true strength is in the root, where all three join as one."_ ) At that tree, the path opened up to reveal his destination, as well as the source of the noise.

It was no ghost. Just another shinobi.

He recognized her. It was that plainfaced girl on the Hyuuga's team, who he'd heard was all but destroyed in the last Chuunin Exam. He had a couple vague memories of seeing her in the next class up at the Academy; the others had made fun of her early on because her short haircut had made her look like a boy. The fact that she would proceed to march up to the ringleaders and give them black eyes for it, he supposed, didn't help much in shaking the image, even though she had eventually grown it out.

But what was she doing here?

Very little was known about - was Tenten her name? - throughout the village, at least in Sasuke's circles, but the one thing everyone seemed sure of was that she was enamored with her teammate and trained only with him. Looking around, Sasuke felt no other presence at all. Just her. So why was he getting a chill?

Still with her back to him, Tenten crouched low, took a breath, then shot into the air. Sasuke squinted into the filtered sunlight; something familiar…

Then, in midair, she shifted her body weight so that her feet were pointed toward the sky, and suddenly six kunai had fanned out between her fingers. Her body had begun to spin slowly, and when he saw her face, Sasuke's breathing came to a halt.

Her eyes were closed.

_No._

Before his eyes, she began to execute the move, releasing first three, then another three of the kunai. When like clockwork, she produced two more, then threw them just so that one struck the other, his blood went cold.

_She can't…_

Throughout, her eyes remained shut, sending a wave of tranquility over her face. (He  _always looked peaceful during this maneuver, free somehow, despite the lines of weariness that had always been under his eyes._ ) Her back arched gracefully and pulled her into an upright position, and she was facing away from him again. ( _Always landing with_ his _back to him, the Uchiha symbol daring him to even bother trying. All his life, only seeing_ his _back…_ ) There was not one stumble when she landed, dropping to one knee and an arm to keep herself balanced, looking like she was bowing to a superior. (He  _was always superior._ ) Vaguely Sasuke wondered if Hyuuga always stood in front of her when she did this. The thought flew from his head as soon as it had come.

There were eight impacts. Sasuke's eyes darted to each of the eight targets, and if possible, they grew even wider.

Each kunai had hit. Each hit was a bull's-eye.

Before him, Tenten inhaled slowly, then exhaled, letting the tension seep from her stance. Then she stood.

"How was that--" she began, turning around. When she met his eyes, the bright, tired smile morphed into surprise. "-oh…um, did you want somethi--"

"Where did you learn that?" His voice hardly made it above a whisper, and she frowned.

"What?"

" _That_ ," Sasuke repeated, advancing on her without noticing, throwing a hand out in a careless gesture at the nearest target. When he was close enough, his other hand flew to her shoulder and gripped it tight. "Who taught you that?" He was aware, through the pounding in his ears, that he sounded panicked. Maybe he was scaring her; otherwise her hand wouldn't be lingering so near her empty kunai holster.

"…No one," she said, her frown deepening.

"No." Sasuke's hold grew sharper, making her wince. "Someone taught you how to do that!" Then Tenten was gripping his wrist, pulling herself out of his grasp.

" _No_ ," she echoed him. "No one taught me-"

"Your parents," he persisted. "Who are they?" He couldn't let that be true. Never in his life had Sasuke seen anyone but  _him_  perform that maneuver, much less succeed. She had to have learned it somehow from him, even indirectly.

A cloud seemed to pass over her eyes. She ran her hand over the shoulder he had gripped, kneading it. "I don't know."

The desperation that had shot through Sasuke's blood began to swiftly deflate, heralding a short, hanging silence.

Tenten's hand dropped to her side, and she rolled both shoulders back to stretch them, then looked at him a bit curiously. "You're Sasuke, right?" He nodded, overcome by a sudden stillness. Her voice, now that it was no longer shrilled by urgency, had a strangely calming effect. She gave a small nod herself. "It's a practice maneuver from a book. I don't think it's used much anymore, though," she explained, bending a bit to remove one kunai from its target. "Ranged Weaponry Techniques. Volume Three."

"Three," Sasuke repeated, his eyebrows lowering. ( _"Not now, Sasuke,"_ he _murmured, his eyes lowered behind a thick textbook, its cover displaying a shuriken and a large number 3. "I can play with you more after the Exam."_ ) Tenten nodded again. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "That's a practice guide for the Jounin Exam. You're still a genin."

"Yeah…" Her face colored a bit, her eyes lowering. "I'm pretty average in everything else, but the genin-level throwing techniques are a little…"

"Pointless," Sasuke murmured, half to himself, as he too had breezed by that unit while Naruto and Sakura had struggled.

A smile found Tenten's lips, relieved, overly modest, but honestly so. Honest like her eyes, honest like her existence.

Sasuke looked over the remaining seven targets. Each kunai was so perfectly centered, flawless, that his eyes hardly knew where to go.

He had never made a target look like that.

Tenten was watching him. "Did you want something?" she asked after a pause.

Sasuke turned towards her again, studying her. He hadn't noticed in his small frenzy that her arms were shaking with strain. Between her fingers, from which she had thrown the kunai, he could see that the skin had rubbed off several times over, leaving patches that burned red and raw. She had practiced this, held on to it, honed it to perfection.

She did it the way  _he'd_  done it: perfectly.

"Do it again." Sasuke barely heard himself say it, but she did. He knew she had heard him from the way she quickly searched his eyes with her own, looking for a reason, an explanation.

She didn't move. Instead, she looked up. "Neji…"

Sasuke didn't follow her gaze. She was the one he was waiting for. In his peripheral vision he saw her teammate drop to the ground, close enough that the movement blew Sasuke's hair briefly into his eyes. Tenten met them again, something unreadable entering her face.

"Tenten," Hyuuga said, "what's going on?"

By that, Sasuke was sure, Hyuuga meant to ask if he was harassing her. And by the impression he was getting from the almost-glare that was being drilled into him, Sasuke had a feeling that the desired answer was yes.

She didn't reply right away. Something was changing in her eyes.

"It's okay, Neji," she finally said. Stretching her arms, she started heading for the next target to retrieve her kunai. "He saw a technique he's interested in." She glanced back at her teammate. "The one in Chapter Nine."

Hyuuga's eyebrows lowered, and he took another glance at Sasuke, who glanced back for only a second before looking away. Sasuke didn't feel overly concerned with him. Even if Hyuuga used his doujutsu, he wouldn't find any dishonesty in Sasuke's aim. He couldn't, when even Sasuke didn't know what it was just yet.

Sasuke paused, retracing his thoughts.  _His doujutsu…_

The Sharingan. This maneuver, which he had never been able to master - he could have it now. He hadn't been able to use his Sharingan back then. Now he could.

In the back of his mind echoed warnings in the voice of his sensei, who had gone to such lengths to look out for him.  _If I am not with you, don't use the Sharingan. The fact that it's a bloodline limit gives it a different set of rules with this curse seal._

But this wasn't a battle.

Calmly, silently, Sasuke formed the necessary hand seals and activated his Sharingan.

A burst of pain from his neck made him wince, but after a moment he was able to ignore its steady burn.

Hyuuga was looking at him again. "You're going to copy it."

Sasuke didn't answer. He had the sense that Hyuuga was liking him less with each passing second.

"She said she doesn't know her parents," Sasuke recalled, a bit abruptly. Hyuuga's eyes narrowed a bit, but he nodded.

"She was abandoned outside an orphanage when she was small," Hyuuga explained, turning his eyes outward toward his teammate. "No one knew of any family, so she was given no last name."

Sasuke watched her in silence, his eyes alive, the curse seal searing against his neck. He could feel it creeping into his blood, its dark tendrils beginning to spread. His mind slowly turned in another direction, propelled by the coaxing heat of the curse.

 _It would be so easy._ She was small, strong but lithe, more agile than powerful. He could take this away from her, swiftly and completely. The moment she landed, he could be there, take those slender arms in his hands and shatter them in their perfection. In a second, he could end her life as a ninja, end it with a  _crack_  that would heighten that soothing voice into a scream. Few would remember her as she was, an unremarkable orphan with no last name; the technique would belong only to the last ninjas of the Uchiha line. As it should be.

His breath quickened at the thought.

She had finished collecting her kunai and returned to the middle of the clearing. She sent a smile to Hyuuga, then looked to Sasuke, meeting his eyes. For one instant, the smile faltered.

As quickly as they had begun, the thoughts vanished in a wisp of darkness. The curdling heat began to recede, leaving only beads of cold sweat on his skin. His eyes burned, but he stubbornly kept the Sharingan activated.

"The maneuver is the Kouryuu Rasen," Hyuuga continued to murmur as Tenten readied herself, "the Rain-Dragon Spiral. It's one of the most difficult exercises in the textbook." There was a pause. "She was the only one of our team to master it."

This caught Sasuke's attention, and he turned to look at him, frowning.  _Even he couldn't…?_

She sent one last glance in their direction, eyes bright and anxious. Sasuke supposed he understood. She was performing a difficult technique before two of the most skilled genin in Konoha, one of whom rumors said she cared deeply about. Vaguely he was reminded of the day he had perfected his first bloodline technique, under the critical eye of his father.

"The only one," Sasuke repeated, and Hyuuga nodded.

Then he was suddenly on the receiving end of the full effect of a Hyuuga's stare. He blinked, a bit startled by it in spite of himself. Hyuuga's face showed little, but the air around him was grave.

"Do not take it from her."

Sasuke remained locked in that gaze for a stretched moment, trying and failing to decipher just what he was seeing in white eyes that were anything but empty.

"Here it is." The two of them turned toward her as one. Tenten's face was still a bit flushed, but the determination in her eyes overruled any nervousness she may have been feeling. The Sharingan magnified every tiny spasm her muscles made, each unheeded protest against pushing herself further. She was tired.

But as she steeled herself, as she lowered herself to one knee in a perfect reflection of her finishing position, knowingly or unknowingly bowing to her witnesses, Sasuke caught a glimpse of those eyes, so common but so bright. Just the image of them in his mind calmed the eager killer at his neck. As she launched herself into the sky, he began to understand why.

He saw in this girl what he had seen in Sakura, on the day that she had thrown her arms around him when the curse had held tight to suffocating, and begged him to stop. He had given pause that day, spared three lives, because he had never seen such honesty in her eyes. Honesty in Sakura was rare - she was always lying to herself, he didn't need a bloodline limit to see that - but Tenten emanated it. No lies were told when her eyes slipped shut and she abandoned herself to the movement. And as he watched, goosebumps rising on his skin as the phantom of his brother danced with her in the sky, he knew why even the genius would rise to protect her.

There were eight impacts. She had done it again.

For several seconds she remained still in her prostrate bow, her back rising and falling with each heavy breath. She had landed harder than before. Beside him, Sasuke could feel Hyuuga tensing with each moment that passed, but he did not go to her.

Finally she raised her head and painstakingly pushed herself to her feet. Her arms were trembling more visibly now. From where he stood, Sasuke could see the fresh trails of blood slipping down her fingers from reopened wounds in between, but even so, she stood tall.

 _Even after training for hours,_ he _always stood tall._

"Oi! Sasuke!"

All three of them glanced up, Naruto's distant call breaking the spell of silence. From the sound of it, he was near the edge of the wood, shouting inward. "Sasuke-teme! Kakashi-sensei is here! Sakura-chan won't leave until you come out!"

Sasuke gave an annoyed exhale. That figured. From his right, he heard Hyuuga give a grunt of recognition. Or amusement. Sasuke didn't care to distinguish between the two.

"Sasuke…" His attention shifted to the girl before him. Tenten had finally allowed her arms to hang limp at her sides, and her eyes were low, seeming to take much more effort than before to meet his. "Did you see what you wanted to see?"

He blinked. A bit of the truth had left her voice, and her eyes had dulled. The neutrality in her face was being forced from somewhere.

Then he felt Hyuuga's hard gaze on him again, and understood what she was really asking.

"Yeah." The white eyes narrowed, and Tenten swallowed hard. Turning partially away from her, Sasuke slipped his hands into his pockets.

"That's a tough move," he went on, looking toward the sky. "None of us on Kakashi-sensei's team can do it."

At the corner of his vision, he saw her face spark to life again. "None of you?"

Sasuke hummed to the affirmative, indulging her with one more glance, no trace of the Sharingan in his eyes. Her face looked incredulous for only a moment. Then the smile, the real one, returned.

"Sasuke! Damn it, quit hiding! _Sasuke-teme!_ "

Flinching, Sasuke had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. He sent a stiff nod in Hyuuga's direction. Then, exchanging a last look with Tenten, the talented stranger, conjurer of all that lay behind him - her message came through so clear that he nearly said "You're welcome," aloud - he turned toward Naruto's voice, and left the clearing ( _ **his**  clearing_) behind.

-

"What did he want?"

She'd had a feeling that this was bothering him.

Tenten sighed, allowing her hand to be cradled in his while he treated the burns between her fingers. Neji's hands had always been cooler than her own, though lately hers had been rougher. "I'm not really sure." She paused a moment, trying not to wince when he slipped his fingers between hers to apply a stinging ointment. "For a minute he seemed really…I don't know, shaken up. Scared, almost." She leaned her head back against the tree they were using as a backrest. "Something about that move."

"Hn." A small grin tugged at her lips, because there was her proof. It was definitely bothering him. She turned her head to look at him expectantly, and at length, he obliged. "He was going to copy it."

"I know."

"He would have done it." A bit more force weighed down his voice, and he even paused in his work for emphasis, his hand remaining suspended halfway to the roll of bandage. When she remained unmoved, he resumed, plucking the roll from its place. "His chakra…it was strange."

"Strange like at the preliminaries?" Tenten asked, and he nodded. She lowered her eyes to her hands, allowing herself to be fascinated by the careful precision with which he looped the bandages through her fingers. "Yeah. I don't know him that well, but I thought he was acting a little strange all around." She looked up again, blinking against the setting sun. "What do you think?"

Neji finished with her left hand, fastening the bandage at the wrist, then reached for her right. His eyebrows lowered upon noticing that that hand was the bloodier of the two. "You overworked yourself."

"Got your attention, didn't it?" she teased, lifting a quizzical eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes.

They fell into a comfortable silence while he followed the same routine with her right hand as with her left, but halfway through applying that terrible ointment, Neji paused again, still appearing disconcerted. "If you knew he wanted to copy the technique," he murmured, "why did you show him again?"

"Well…" Tenten bit her lip, unsure how to explain. "Well first off, it isn't technically mine. Anyone could have found that book-" A flat expression from Neji ended that excuse, and she moved along. "But I guess it was something in his eyes. When he asked me to do it again, it looked like…" She turned to face him. "Have you heard of the Uchiha ghosts?"

This time it was Neji's turn to lift a brow. Taking that as a no, Tenten tried to explain. "The Academy kids still talk about them, I think. They say the spirits of the Uchiha clan haunt this clearing."

Neji reanimated with a small snort, slipping his fingers out of hers and reaching for the bandages again.

"I'm not saying it's true." Tenten absently bent the fingers of the hand he'd already bandaged, working the stiffness out of them. "It's just that…for a minute, he almost looked like he was seeing them. At least, he wanted to be." Her eyes lowered to the place that Sasuke had been standing when she saw him first. "So when he asked me to do it again, I felt like maybe I could give him that."

Silence hung in the statement's wake, and after a moment, Tenten replayed it in her head and let out half a laugh. "That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, isn't it?"

Neji exhaled softly against her ear as he fastened the last bandage. "No."

Once she had flexed the fingers of both hands to check her circulation, they stood. A glance told her that all manner of pointy objects were still lying everywhere. "You go ahead," she told Neji, sending him a sideways grin. "You know how Gai-sensei gets."

"Don't be late."

"I'll catch up."

As soon as he was gone, Tenten began circling the grounds, collecting her tools as she came to them. She looked disdainfully at her still-trembling arms and silently conceded that maybe she had overdone it a little.

It was as she was bending to remove the last kunai from its target that her thoughts wandered back to that boy, Uchiha Sasuke. What she'd seen in him…Neji had tried to understand it, but Tenten wasn't so sure he did. Uchiha Sasuke was holding on to something. She didn't really know what that felt like - she hadn't known her family long enough to understand - but she was pretty sure she could recognize it when she saw it.

Neji would get that look himself sometimes, as though for just a second, he had seen a phantom of his own. It was the expression he had every time he looked at his uncle, and sometimes even when he laid eyes on Hinata. Most often, he got that look just before doing something reckless.

Sasuke had seemed that way as well. She had never seen the Sharingan with her own eyes before, but she knew that was what he'd been doing. That was reckless, too.

But he had stopped.

What had stopped him, she couldn't say.

Rising, Tenten took one last scan of the area, rolling the shoulder Sasuke had gripped and foreseeing a bruise there tomorrow. It looked like she was done here. But just as she was turning to go, a small, dark shape near the exit path caught her eye. A kunai…had she missed one?

Closer inspection revealed that it was no weapon of hers. It surprised her that she had never noticed it. Slow-spreading rust and a dull tip said it had been lying there for a long while. Tenten turned it over in her hands, unable to resist studying every inch, trying to guess its age and forger. Only one detail made it different from any other kunai she had seen:

Engraved on the handle, almost too worn to make out, was a tiny Uchiha fan.

Tenten could have sworn the air chilled around her.

The beating wings of the evening's first bat snapped Tenten from her mystified state and reminded her how late it was. She glanced at the sky through the blowing leaves, then back at the kunai in her hand. The idea of keeping it felt disrespectful somehow.

Looking around, Tenten's eyes fell upon a broken tree where the path opened up, the first landmark she had learned during her visits here. She had always been fond of it, as it simply wasn't satisfied following just one path, instead twisting into three.

Resolutely she went to the tree, holding the kunai against herself as though it could break. Once there, she lowered herself to one knee before it and raised the kunai to eye level with both hands, pointing it downward.

Closing her eyes, she said a silent prayer for loved ones lost, and those they left behind. Then she drove the kunai into the ground, marking the clearing with the symbol of those who had once cherished it.

She could only hope that maybe, somewhere, a wandering spirit could now find its way home.


	2. Contact

_He had come to watch her two more times this week, today being his third. Each time, he would conceal himself in the brush while she went through her techniques, leaving her only after the Kouryuu Rasen was performed-always perfectly._

_That's what she was doing now. The wind carried her like she was nothing, only the slight_ thump _of her landing betraying that she weighed anything at all. Lately she had been paying special attention to the landing. She lifted her head. He turned to leave._

_Standing, she wiped a bead of sweat from her face._

" _Sasuke, wait."_

_He paused. Her eyes settled on his silhouette, cloaked in shadow._

" _Do you want me to teach you?"_

-

**Chapter 2: Contact**

-

There were times that Sasuke wondered if Kakashi-sensei had a sixth sense. He always seemed to know just a bit more than he let on, and it wasn't uncommon to see a flash of bewilderment now and then in the face of anyone he spoke to. No matter who it was, Kakashi-sensei would manage, in very few words, to hint that he was sharing a secret with them. Sasuke had seen it happen to the best.

Today, for example.

"Sorry I'm late, I wasn't feeling well…and as I am in no condition to work extensively with you today," he'd made no real attempt to hide the newest Icha Icha book in his pocket, price sticker still attached, "you will be working individually with ranged weapons. In short - target practice."

Sasuke, who had relaxed into a comfortable daze, now rose to attention, his eyes flying up as his instructor passed him by.

He couldn't know for sure, but Sasuke could have sworn he was winked at.

So it was that Team 7 found itself faced with three distant targets, thirty prepared kunai, and one very distracted sensei. As usual, Sasuke found himself leagues ahead of his teammates, who seemed to be spending more energy complaining than working on their aim. Only once did Naruto manage a bull's-eye - on Sakura's target. Sasuke sighed.

His own target sported several more kunai than theirs combined, but it was nowhere near where it could be.

It wasn't like  _his_  targets had always been.

It wasn't like hers, either.

-

" _Do you want me to teach you?"_

" _No."_

_He didn't look for her reaction. Silence._

" _Then what are you doing here?"_

_The wind picked up, whipping his clothes against his skin and blowing leaves from their branches. Sasuke's eyebrows knitted, and he broke from his stillness and moved forward with the intent of making his exit._

_There was just enough time for his eyes to widen at the sound of a kunai whistling in his direction before the blade shot out at his right, only to be struck by a second kunai that sent it whizzing by an inch in front of his face. The blade struck deep into the trunk of a nearby tree. Two dark strands of his hair drifted to the ground._

" _When someone asks you a question," she said quietly, in a clever echo of the first words he had ever said in her presence, "you should answer it before running off."_

_Sasuke stood there for a moment, frozen with shock, then let out an unsteady breath he hadn't known he was holding._

_Finally, he turned to face her._

-

"Tenten?"

Tenten blinked, and Lee's face came into focus, stark against the white walls of the hospital room. His eyebrows were knitted with concern. Tenten shook her head. "Oh - sorry. Where was I?"

Lee didn't answer for a moment, busy as he was catching a drip of ice cream with his tongue. She had made a habit of buying ice cream cones before her visits, and had been sneaking them in until one of the more observant nurses had told her it wasn't a problem. Today's order had to be the messiest bubblegum ice cream cone she had ever seen. Anyone other than Lee would have been bathing in it by now.

"The Kouryuu Rasen technique," he said finally, "and how Neji couldn't do it."

"Didn't I already tell you that part?" Lee only smiled guiltily, and she giggled. "Okay."

As she once again described the scene, spending a little extra time on the way that Neji had blushed uncontrollably with embarrassment after he'd botched the landing and been caught bridal-style by Gai-sensei, Tenten marveled at how nice it was that Lee was laughing again. For a while, she'd wondered if he ever would.

"I tried reminding him that Gai-sensei only did it to keep him from breaking his neck, but he wouldn't talk about it," Tenten finished, while Lee wiped at his eyes, taking a breath to calm his laughter.

"Ah…I'm glad you mastered it, Tenten."

She wanted to tell him that someday, he would master it too, but the words tugged at her heart before ever reaching her throat.

So instead, she swallowed them down.  And she smiled.

-

_She had to check herself to keep a triumphant smirk from reaching her lips when he emerged from his hiding place, a hint of annoyance in his face. Instead, she waited._

_Sasuke quietly exhaled. "It's not important."_

" _If it wasn't important, you wouldn't be here."_

" _Why not?" He smirked. "Last week, you barely remembered my name."_

_Quickly she wiped her face of emotion. "I guess you just don't seem like the type to take things lightly."_

_He made a sound in his throat that was almost a snort. "I'm not Hyuuga."_

_Tenten's eyebrows lifted at the bold statement, and she crossed her arms. "Do you even_ know _my name?" The smirk faded, and she knew that she'd won._

_With a quiet sigh, she dropped her arms back to her sides, then began to evaluate her training area. "I don't mind if you watch," she said, looking him in the eye again. "That's fine, as long as you quit skulking around in there." He looked insulted for a second, and she stifled a laugh. "Let me know if you change your mind."_

_She turned away from him then, retrieving a few kunai with a tug on their strings and preparing to resume her practice. At her back, she heard Sasuke shift his weight, then pause._

" _Tenten," he said suddenly, making her flinch, "right?"_

_Still standing with one hand on a stubborn kunai and her back to him, Tenten's lips curved into a smile._

" _Right."_

-

Sasuke wasn't sure what had come over him.

Normally, simple techniques like these wouldn't matter, because he was already far ahead of genin-level expectations, and he had more important things to worry about. Simple techniques like these wouldn't drive him to stay here after Naruto and Sakura had gone. They wouldn't frustrate him to the point of carelessness, losing three kunai in the brush from throwing too hard and missing.

And they  _certainly_  wouldn't distract him so completely that he wouldn't notice his audience until she was three feet behind him.

Finally Sasuke pitched his current kunai downward, driving it into the ground. " _What--_ "

He heard Tenten's breath hitch. "Nothing. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snuck up on-"

He cut her off with a shake of his head. "What…" he repeated, eyes hidden and voice low, "…am I doing wrong?" A slight turn of his head informed him that her face was betraying surprise for the second time that day.

Then the surprise faded into a spark of understanding that made him ache somehow, and shifted into thoughtful analysis.

"…Too much force, too soon. You're rushing it. And your stance is too aggressive." He tried not to tense when she took his shoulders and turned them ever so slightly, then slipped her fingers around his wrist to adjust his positioning. "You're really tense," she muttered. "Here - it's like this."

Pulling out a kunai of her own, Tenten held it up, letting it flash in the light of the setting sun. "Here's what you're doing," she said, and reverted to the grip he'd used, showing him the movement slowly. "I've seen a lot worse, but you're making the most common mistake. You're only thinking about the destination."

"What else is there to think about?"

She smiled at him. "The journey."

Sasuke looked at her skeptically, receiving a roll of the eyes in return. Tenten shook her head. "If all you care about is the center of that target, then you won't get any farther than you are now."

For some reason, he began to get a chill.

"Here," she said, putting her kunai away and taking his wrist in her hands again ( _like_ his  _hands-rough, gentle, worn but so sure_ ), taking his arm through the correct motion. "See?" she asked, a bit more quietly now that they stood closer. "You want the target to be your central focus, but not your only focus. Take in everything around you. Picture the kunai's path now, so you'll know what to watch out for. And don't tense up when you throw it; just put strength behind it, and let it go at its own pace."

Exchanging a quick look with him, Tenten tightened her grip a bit and placed her other hand between his shoulderblades to help his stance, then guided him into a throw. Their aim was true: the kunai struck the center, vibrating with the impact. Sasuke's eyes widened. Tenten smiled.

"That's what will get you where you want to be."

Sasuke's eyes remained fixed on the kunai for what felt like a long time. He couldn't suppress a flinch when Tenten let go of him, for a moment having forgotten her presence altogether. For the first time since she'd appeared, Sasuke turned to look at her directly.

It looked like she hadn't gotten home since he'd last seen her, the dry bandages stained with dirt and her hair a bit unraveled on both sides. Based on the way her hand absently massaged her shoulder to fill the suddenly awkward stillness, he could guess that she was nursing a strained muscle. That brought Sasuke down from his semi-daze, because suddenly she was human again. ( _Pain made her human. Did that make_ him  _inhuman? Maybe he never was…_ )

The prolonged silence seemed to unnerve her a little, and she shifted her weight to the foot that was farther from him, probably toward wherever she was going when she got there.

 _Wait_ …

Sasuke frowned. "What are you doing here?"

She blinked innocently. "Oh…I always cut through here. It's faster to get between the hospital and my place - I was visiting Lee," she explained hastily. "It's going to be two months now since he was put in there, and he's going pretty stir-crazy. The nurses like me because I keep him from sneaking out to train himself to death."

Sasuke hummed his understanding, wondering not for the first time if it would have killed Kakashi-sensei to wait until  _after_  the preliminaries to seal up his curse. "The Sand team was dangerous from the start."

The air between them changed, grew a bit more distant. Her eyebrows knitted, following her gaze to the ground. "Yeah. They were."

She didn't seem to want to take that subject any farther, so Sasuke looked at their surroundings. It was getting dark, the birdsongs gradually quieting even as he took notice of them.

"Do you want to fight?"

Sasuke's eyes snapped back to Tenten, startled. When she met his gaze again, a lively spark had entered her eyes. "Right now. Just a quick one. You haven't used a lot of chakra today, have you?"

He slowly shook his head, but continued frowning at her. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"You're injured."

"What-oh, this? It's nothing serious," she said, rotating the sore shoulder a couple of times. "Besides, I've had a longer break. It's fair."

Sasuke opened his mouth to question her again, but clamped it shut as the connection suddenly became clear to him. He had mentioned the Sand team. Though neither of his teammates seemed to remember many details of Tenten's battle when they recounted it, the one thing that they agreed on was that her opponent had crushed her in minutes, and that that opponent was Temari.

Temari of the Sand.

Meeting her eyes again, Sasuke now found there what he always saw in Naruto's eyes, though she was much better at hiding it: desperation. She wanted to avenge herself against a memory. She wanted acknowledgement. And by whatever twist of fate, she wanted to be acknowledged by him.

_Against a memory…_

More than anything else, those words were what ran through his mind when he nodded once more.

"All right."


	3. Covenant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: In the Naruto Data Book, each character's skill levels are measured in eight different areas: ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, intelligence, strength, speed, stamina, and seal. Recently I compared Sasuke and Tenten in each area, as a reference. What I found was just creepy: Sasuke is a half-point better in Stamina, one point better in Seal, and every other score is _exactly the same_.
> 
> (And they have the exact same weight, too. o.O 42.2kg. Which converts to less than a hundred pounds. Children, please eat a sandwich.)

_Sasuke took his time gathering his kunai, each collected blade flashing in the late afternoon sun. Tenten bit her lip as she stretched out her arms, trying to ignore the tightness in the shoulder she'd twisted that morning._ I must be out of my mind.

_Though it was obvious to her that Sasuke had been practicing with the targets for some time, he wasn't showing fatigue at all. Even the simple act of bending to pick up a kunai was performed with absolute control, wasting no movement. It was the way that Neji moved._

_After two years on his team, Tenten still couldn't boast a single win against Neji._

_But just as quickly as she'd had the thought, she stopped herself, an ironic smirk touching her lips._ "I'm not Hyuuga _." Maybe this guy had her pegged a little more accurately than she'd thought._

_Another moment, and Sasuke was standing before her again, the rays of the lowering sun making him little more than a silhouette to her eyes. He was ready._

_The wind picked up, sending a swirl of leaves between them and blowing their hair into their eyes, and held strong for a moment before dying down. Only one remaining leaf danced on the air in a downward spiral when the breeze had passed, finally landing in a feather-touch against the grass._

_Sasuke vanished. Tenten braced herself._

_They had begun.  
_

-

**Chapter 3: Covenant**

-

When she blinked again, she was surrounded. Ten dark eyes zeroed in on her.  _Bunshin._

Quickly she shot into the air, just avoiding five kunai from the Sasuke clones, leaving them to collide below her with a piercing  _clang_ , and pitched out five of her own before her feet touched the ground. All five Sasukes vanished in a curl of smoke the moment they were struck. Tenten frowned; that meant none of them were-

Gasping, Tenten whirled around just in time to parry a blow from the real Sasuke, quickly matching his force. Sasuke's eyes widened, and Tenten smirked. "I'm not Haruno."

She took advantage of his reaction - though she couldn't quite say what it was - to muscle him off balance and break out of their stalemate, flipping gracefully over his head. Forced into improvisation, Sasuke put his weight on his hands and kicked her feet out from under her before she landed, a solid kick between the shoulderblades knocking the air out of her lungs.

Panic flashed through her with the fleeting memory of the moment her back hit Temari's fan. Just as quickly, she shook it off.  _Not this time._

Then she looked up. Her stomach dropped. "Oh-"

Her next words were lost in the roar of flames.

-

Sasuke swallowed down the familiar burning sensation in his throat, and an inhale of fresh air was like ice to his lungs. He hadn't planned to use any clan techniques in this battle.

As the smoke cleared, Sasuke lowered into his stance once more. She'd been surprising so far, and though he highly doubted that she could have blocked it, he was finding that he wouldn't put it past her. He was ready for a barrage of kunai to fly from the cloud at any moment.

When he could finally see, his mind barely had time to register the sight of a scorched log where Tenten would have been.

Then a burnt arm with a bandaged hand shot around his chest from behind, and he gave an inward curse, his hand flying to grasp her wrist. But cold steel at his neck made him give pause.

He could almost hear the smirk in her voice against his ear. "Match."

"Not yet."

He pitched his weight forward as he said it, wrenching her arm away from him, and sent them both into a flip that ended with the full weight of his body slamming her into the ground. Her hold on him slackened, and he broke free, quickly getting some distance. The flutter of a scroll was the only precursor to the rain of weapons that shot after him, slashing across his arms and legs in spite of his attempt to block.

That's right. She didn't miss.

That meant this distance was no good. If he was going to win this fight, he would have to stay close. She was fast, but if he could get in a few more hard hits-

He was taking too long. Another steel barrage shot toward him; he had to think fast. Where couldn't she hit him?

His eyes sparked.  _That's it_.

-

Tenten blinked when her second wave hit nothing but air, then looked around, annoyed. This would be done so much more quickly if he would quit popping in and out of sight like that…

But as the seconds passed, her annoyance slowly froze into suspicion. This was a pretty open area, with few places to hide, if any…there were no perches above, and the clearing seemed to be empty but for herself. That would mean he could only be-

Her eyes widened a moment too late.  _Below!_

The ground crumbled beneath her, and she only caught a glimpse of dark hair before Sasuke's fist connected with her jaw. The force snapped her head back and took her feet off the ground, stars bursting in front of her eyes. The tang of blood in her mouth told her that she'd bitten her tongue. She hit the ground hard, unable to suppress a yelp when the impact jarred her bad shoulder.

But then Sasuke was on her again. He wasn't taking his time anymore. In a small panic, Tenten launched sloppily off the ground, shaking her head to still its spinning. Sasuke followed her. Gravity lost all meaning as they began to exchange blows in rapid succession, pushing each other higher and higher into the sky. Tenten caught another kick to the temple, but simultaneously felt her fist connect with his stomach; a shuriken slicing her cheek was returned with a kunai across his. She couldn't remember the last time her heart had beat so hard or so fast. If she didn't remember to breathe soon, it would be her own undoing.

She almost didn't hear the telltale whistling of steel against the air.

-

Sasuke recognized the noise at the same moment, and his eyes widened; as one, he and Tenten quickly pushed off each other, separating just in time for a windmill shuriken to cut through the air between them.

Gravity chose that moment to assert control, and the two of them crashed to the ground in a less-than-graceful fashion. But the adrenaline of the battle hadn't slowed. Almost before he fully had his feet, Sasuke began to shoot toward her again, even as she did the same.

What he hadn't counted on was the hand that came from nowhere and caught him by the back of his collar, halting his progress completely and lifting him off his feet, eliciting a shout of surprise. A split-second later, Tenten let out a shriek as she too was seized by the shirt-collar and lifted into the air.

"Not that this hasn't been impressive," their captor drawled, exhaling smoke into the air, "but your time here is up."

" _Asuma-sensei!_ " a shrill voice cut through. "Sasuke-kun was just about to win!"

Sarutobi Asuma held up the two genin a bit higher, provoking all manner of wriggling protests, and examined them thoughtfully. "Maybe." Seeming to forget about them for a moment, he craned his neck to look behind him. "Catch that, will you, Shikamaru?"

"Huh?- _Oof!_ " He'd barely looked up in time to catch the windmill shuriken that his sensei had thrown to stop the battle. "Geez…"

Chuckling, Asuma returned his attention to his charges, looking between them good-naturedly. "You guys cooled off now?"

Blinking, Sasuke found that surprisingly, he was. The adrenaline had waned with the interruption. Looking across, he saw Tenten give Asuma a single nod, still breathing hard.  _He_  was still breathing hard. Only now was his pulse starting to abandon its frenzy and return to its normal pace.

Seeming to be satisfied, Asuma finally set them back down, allowing them to hastily straighten their clothes. "Our team gets this area from seven to ten. Move it somewhere else, alright?"

"We will," Tenten answered for them both, bowing politely. "We're sorry to cut into your training time."

"No problem." Heading back to retrieve his windmill shuriken, Asuma jerked his thumb toward the grounds. "All right, guys. Let's go."

"Can we get barbecue afterwards?"

"Chouji, put down that bag of chips before you ask about dinner…"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke grimaced when Ino all but tackled him from behind, draping herself over his shoulders. "You know, you can train with  _my_  team whenever you want."

"Ino, give the kid a break." Sasuke narrowly avoided getting slapped by her hair when she whipped her head around to glare at her sensei. From the corner of his eye, he caught Tenten stifling a sympathetic laugh while she rolled up her summoning scroll.

Once he'd managed to shrug Ino off of him, Sasuke rejoined Tenten to head out of the grounds, leaving Asuma's team to talk among themselves. Just before they were out of hearing range, a murmured comment from Chouji reached his ears.

"Hey, Shikamaru, since when is that girl any good?"

Next to him, Tenten paused for only a moment, then turned her eyes toward the ground and kept walking. Frowning, Sasuke listened a bit more intently, slowing his step.

"How should I know?"

"I dunno. You knew she'd lose at the Chuunin Exams."

"It was obvious then."

"Chouji, Shikamaru. You can gossip like old ladies after you've hit sixty-six percent accuracy."

"Sixty-six!"

"Troublesome…"

After that, he couldn't hear any more.

"Your aim was better that time." His eyes snapped forward, and he found that Tenten had waited for him, her back against a tree and one hand gingerly rubbing her shoulder. When he didn't answer, she looked up, encouragement in her eyes. "Really. Still trying too hard," she added, lowering a playful eyebrow at him, "but your stance was better."

"Hm." Slipping his hands into his pockets, Sasuke leaned back against the tree opposite hers, letting his head rest against the trunk. He was tired. She was making no attempt to hide that she was as well. The sight of her suggested that she'd just lost a fight to a dragon, covered as she was in scratches and the burns she hadn't quite dodged.

Then again, a glance at himself said that he wasn't looking much better. His skin felt like it was sizzling from the countless slashes of well-placed kunai. No blade was wasted when it left her hands.

There was something wistful in her silence, her attention settling on what little they could see of the practice grounds. Her eyes followed each blade toward its target with the scrutiny of an expert. After someone missed their mark for the third time, she sighed quietly, lowering her eyes again. "What?"

Sasuke blinked. Tenten grinned faintly, looking up once more. "I have a teammate who can stare at me with his back turned, Sasuke. Makes it pretty obvious when someone else does." He hadn't noticed he was looking. But he did have her attention now.

"The Chuunin Exams." She stiffened, her expression glassing over a bit, but not changing. Sasuke kept her gaze. "What happened?"

-

Inside, Tenten cringed. She hated it when people asked her that. Almost as much as she hated it when they didn't.

As it was, she let out her breath, looking away. "It's not important."

"If it wasn't important, they wouldn't still remember it."

"Why not?" she asked, a sideways smirk curling her lips when Sasuke realized what they were echoing. "It really isn't. I fought, I was out of my league, and I was defeated. That's all."

Never mind how the medics had said she was lucky not to be paralyzed from the blow to her spine.

Never mind how the month between the preliminaries and the final exams had been spent in physical therapy, only the last week seeing her out of the hospital and back at the training grounds.

Never mind how even Neji had pitied her enough to pretend he needed any help teaching himself the Kaiten - he had never implied such a thing, but she knew it had to be true.

And never mind how Sasuke didn't look one bit convinced that it was anything less.

"Why the sudden interest?" she asked instead, cocking her head at him. Sasuke only shrugged, looking away with practiced nonchalance.

"It's not important."

Tenten shot him a salty look, but he kept his mouth shut, looking rather pleased with himself. "Fine," she said, pushing away from her tree and trying not to wince. "Get some ointment for those cuts, smart guy, or you'll be moving like an old man tomorrow. I aim for the joints," she explained at his frown.

Sasuke stepped away from his own tree with a small affirmative grunt. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

_Next time?_

After a moment of staring at him, speechless, Tenten finally caught up with the moment and relaxed into a smile that she couldn't contain if she tried.

Her voice softened a bit without her telling it to. "Good match, Sasuke."

He didn't reply. The only sign that he'd even heard her was the slightest pause in his step.

But it was enough.


	4. Presence

_Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen._

" _What are you going to do?"_

_Tenten glanced at her teammate and back, half-distracted with keeping count of her progress. "Um…stop at a hundred bull's-eyes, then we're back to deflection training, right?"_

" _No. At the next Chuunin Exam. What are you going to do?"_

_Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four._

_She didn't miss a beat, beginning to alternate kunai, senbons, and shuriken once she got past twenty-five. "A little early to start planning for that, isn't it? We still have four months."_

" _I'm not planning. I'm asking if you are."_

" _Well, no, not yet. Why?"_

_Forty-one. Forty-two. Forty-three._

_Neji didn't say anything for a moment. At fifty, Tenten began throwing three at a time, one for each target._

" _The next Exam is in Suna. The shinobi there will be like the one you fought."_

_Sixty-six. Sixty-seven. Sixty-eight._

_Tenten turned to face him, hearing all three targets rattle with the sudden increase in her force. "You don't think I can do it?"_

" _I know you can." Tenten felt her face go blank at the unexpected show of faith. "But not if you continue only doing_ this."

_Seventy-five. Seventy-six. Seventy-seven._

_She turned back to the targets, now watching the falling leaves with a keen eye and pinning each one to a target when it reached the right altitude. "I happen to like_ this _," she countered. "This is how I fight."_

_Eighty-eight. Eighty-nine. Ninety._

" _Tenten." Slowing her pace, she turned her head to look at him again. He had come closer when she wasn't looking, and now met her gaze in earnest. By the smallest degree, his voice quieted. "You shouldn't be defeated like that again."_

_Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine._

_Tenten paused and sighed quietly, a little touched in spite of herself. "I know," she murmured._

_But suddenly Neji wasn't looking at her face anymore. His eyes had come to focus on her throwing arm, the hand of which was gripping the last kunai. The bandages had come a bit unraveled from the constant movement, revealing traces of the angry red burns across her skin. Frowning, he looked up at her again, no doubt noticing the cut on her cheek._

" _I didn't give you those."_

" _Oh - no, you didn't. They're from training yesterday." His frown shifted with confusion, and she smiled mysteriously, eying her last target. "I'm trying something new."_

_The last kunai flew._

-

**Chapter 4: Presence**

-

"Hey, Sakura-chan, is he here yet?"

"You could just open your eyes and look…" An exasperated sigh. "No, he's not, Naruto."

A sleepy yawn. "Now?"

"No."

"…What about now?"

" _Naruto!_ "

" _Ow!_ I was just asking!"

So the morning ritual began.

Sasuke sighed, finding little motivation to join in. He was more concerned with standing as still as possible, so as not to aggravate the still-burning cuts on his arms and legs from the day before. Getting out of bed that morning was an experience that he wouldn't care to repeat.

Kakashi-sensei was late this morning, as usual. And Sasuke's teammates were as patient as they usually weren't. Normally, he would have gone about his usual routine as well, closing his eyes and honing his ability to tune them out. But today was different.

He was vaguely aware of Sakura moving to stand next to him, brushing her hands off. "They're still going?" she asked, and Sasuke nodded. Sakura made an appreciative sound. "They haven't stopped since we got here. I didn't even know anyone used this section before our time slot."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He only watched.

The two shinobi had apparently sparred together for much longer and much more often than Sasuke had originally thought. They moved with and played off each other with the sort of ease that was only won over time and persistence, never hesitating between blows, never showing a need to stop and plan their next move.

Sasuke wasn't horribly fond of Hyuuga Neji, but even so, he couldn't deny that in this setting, he was an image of power. His movements were the signature of his clan, quick and precise and devastating, requiring little movement. In contrast, Tenten never seemed to  _stop_  moving. She looked like a dancer against his stillness, moving in long and sweeping arcs that took her airborne at every chance, her feet hardly ever seeming to touch the ground.

The two had seemed to be in the middle of some sort of exercise when Team 7 had arrived, something that required Tenten to throw wave after wave of projectiles for her teammate to deflect. Not long after, they had begun sparring in earnest, which was making for quite the show.

Needless to say, Sasuke didn't really mind the wait.

Hardly a minute after he'd had the thought, Sasuke rose to attention, signaled by a familiar spark to his senses. It looked like the wait was over. He glanced back, a glimpse of silver telling him that he was correct. Sasuke smirked. "You're late."

"So it would seem…" Kakashi-sensei replied, effectively making Naruto jump ten feet in the air and nearly giving Sakura a heart attack.

Recovering just as quickly, the two whirled around to point accusing fingers at their sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, you're late!"

"There's an echo somewhere…well, anyway. I was on my way here, and I passed by some children harassing a turtle. Naturally, I had to intervene…"

" _Liar!_ "

"Hm…well, that aside. It looks like they're finished, so shall we begin?"

Looking up, Sasuke found that the spar between Tenten and Hyuuga had indeed come to a halt, probably thanks to Naruto and Sakura's outbursts. Now Gai's pupils were exchanging a few words while they collected what was theirs. Hyuuga finished quickly, only a fraction of the scattered weapons actually belonging to him, and nodded a farewell to his teammate before vanishing into the trees. Tenten remained behind, collecting every last blade and storing them all away.

She was just finishing as Team 7 approached, pocketing a last handful of kunai before making her way towards them, heading for the entrance where they had been waiting. Sasuke didn't have to look to know when her eyes found him; the sound of her stifling a chuckle was telling enough. She would have to be blind not to notice how stiffly he was walking.

Just before they passed, she murmured, "I told you…"

"I listened," Sasuke muttered back, absently taking out a kunai in preparation for whatever Kakashi-sensei had planned.

"Obviously not that well," she countered with sparkling eyes, almost -  _almost_ \- looking sympathetic. In passing, she glanced down at the kunai he held, then lightly tapped his hand. "Grip."

Shooting her a dry look, Sasuke begrudgingly fixed his hold on the kunai. She returned the frown in a mocking exaggeration, then gave a good-natured shake of her head. "See you."

"Yeah."

Then she had passed him, and his team had reached the grounds, and Kakashi-sensei was giving them their instructions while Sasuke idly switched between his old grip and the new one.

He pretended not to notice Naruto and Sakura gaping at him all the while.

-

"Here, Lee. I got you mint chip this time - you said that's your favorite, right?"

Lee didn't speak for a moment, or even turn over to look at her.

"Thanks, Tenten. I'm not very hungry right now."

"Oh…okay, that's fine. I can just leave it with Hanako-san, and you can ask her for it whenever she checks in for the doctor. I'm pretty sure she said there was a freezer in the lounge."

Silence.

"How are you feeling?" Tenten tried after a moment, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder. Lee flinched.

"They tried another procedure this morning, but…"

He didn't have to finish. Tenten gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. Only one other time, just after she herself was out of the hospital, had she seen it get to him like this. She knew he would bounce back-he had to, he always did-but it didn't make it any easier to witness.

"They'll find a way, Lee. They have to," she said, and felt him slowly tense under her fingers.

"…Please stop saying that, Tenten."

Tenten felt a tug of panic in her chest. If there was one thing Lee didn't do, it was give up.

Her grip tightened. "I won't."

After another hanging silence grew too long, she lowered her eyes. "Do you want me to go?"

She felt the effort it took him to swallow. Then, without lifting his head from the pillow, he nodded.

"Okay." Letting her hand linger on his shoulder for a last moment, she finally let it slip away, getting to her feet. She gathered the two ice creams she had brought, making a note to drop one off with Lee's nurse before it melted, and headed for the door.

"I'm sorry." His voice was the softest she had ever heard it, and she paused, wondering what right she had to feel like crying right now.

"We're here for you, Lee," she said finally. "Both of us. Neji doesn't visit as often, but he asks about you. Every week." She took a deep breath to keep her voice steady. "He hasn't given up on you, and neither have I."

Lee only curled up a little tighter.

-

"Sasuke. Stay behind a minute."

Sasuke winced.

For a moment, Naruto and Sakura stopped too, as though they were the ones Kakashi-sensei had addressed. An annoyed glare broke Sakura from her curious pause, and she grabbed Naruto by the wrist and all but dragged him away.

Kakashi-sensei waited until a bit after they'd disappeared around the corner to lean calmly against the nearest target post. Sasuke fisted his hands in his pockets, waiting.

Slipping his book into a pocket, Kakashi-sensei lifted his eyes to meet Sasuke's.

"How is it?"

Sasuke's face twitched into a frown. "How is what?"

One silver eyebrow lifted. At the same moment, he felt a familiar crackle of heat at his neck, answering for him. He lowered his eyes, feeling moody all of a sudden. "…It's fine."

"No problems?" Kakashi-sensei pressed, sounding for all the world like he was just asking if it was supposed to rain today. Immediately Sasuke's mind flashed to the week before.

 _The sight of her defying gravity in his family's clearing, like_ he _always had, the rush of heat, spreading over his skin, power pumping through his veins, the desire for nothing but to take the invisible wings she'd wrought and tear them apart--_

Sasuke swallowed hard.

"No."

"Good." He didn't like the way Kakashi-sensei was looking at him, like he could see right through him no matter what he said. After a moment, though, Kakashi-sensei pushed away from the post. "And you know to come to me if there are any mishaps…"

Sasuke nodded. When his sensei turned to leave, he exhaled, letting his eyes slip shut.

"Oh, and one more thing." Reopening his eyes, Sasuke found that Kakashi-sensei had paused to glance back at him. "Whatever you're doing, pace yourself. Your accuracy has improved since our last session, but…" He paused, as though searching for the right words.

"…But?" Sasuke prompted when the silence stretched too long.

Another second, and Kakashi-sensei's thoughtful expression abruptly switched, his visible eye curving in what his team recognized as a smile. "Well, frankly, you're moving like an old man."

Sasuke's eyebrow visibly twitched.

Kakashi-sensei chose that moment to disappear.

-

Tenten knew she was in trouble when they both appeared at once.

One she could handle. At least one of them seemed pretty reasonable as long as Sasuke wasn't around, and the other one could at least be avoided by darting into the nearest building. But that wouldn't work on both of them at once.

And the way they froze when they saw her, the quick whisper from one to the other, and then the brisk resolve in their step when they approached her could only mean--

"Tenten-chan!" She winced.

Slinging her bag of groceries up higher on her shoulder, she turned, forcing a smile. "Ino, Sakura…ah…what brings you here?" The fact that it was the most traveled street in Konoha notwithstanding.

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood," Ino answered, waving a dismissive hand. "I was just telling Sakura-chan here about that fight you had with Sasuke-kun yesterday."

"Oh…yeah?" Tenten said weakly.

"Mm-hm!" Ino chirped. "And it made us curious - of course you know, normally Sasuke-kun won't train with anybody! So, ah…how'd you get him to?"

Tenten blinked. "I…asked?"

"How?" Ino demanded.

"What  _exactly_ did you say?" Sakura jumped in.

Tenten looked between the two helplessly for a moment before giving them an honest answer. "…'Do-you-want-to-fight…?'"

A gust of wind blew through an empty second, the faces of both girls going deadpan.

"…Okay, you asked," Sakura said finally. "What else?"

 _Else?_ "…What--"

"Sasuke-kun won't train with just anyone," Ino chimed in again, " _especially_  with girls, everyone knows that."

"Actually, I didn't know--"

"So you must have done something, right? Did you bribe him?"

"No, she couldn't have bribed him, Sasuke-kun  _hates_  that…"

"Well--"

"Wait, you and Sasuke-kun were talking about something earlier!" Sakura interrupted, epiphany written all over her face. "Was that it? Oh! Was that why he was so stiff today?"

"Er--"

"Ahh, poor Sasuke-kun!-Wait, he  _talked_  to you?" By the look on Ino's face, Tenten may as well have said that she was an incarnate of the First Hokage. "Since when are you friends with Sasuke-kun?"

"Well, I don't know if we're exactly  _friends_ …"

Both girls froze in a simultaneous gasp, and Tenten immediately realized her mistake.

"…Oh. Oh, no, no!" she backpedaled, instinctively lifting her hands to avoid conflict. "No, I'm not saying we're…I-I just meant I don't know him that well, a-and he…there's this technique, and we, er, I-"

"What are you doing?"

All three of their heads whipped in the direction of the new voice. Tenten's face blanched. "Sasuke…"

But it didn't look like the question was directed at her. Sakura and Ino both flinched under the gaze they worshipped, blushing. Immediately they cleared their throats, one looking up while the other turned her eyes to her feet.

As they began hastily producing reasons for their interrogation, Sasuke caught Tenten's eye, then subtly jerked his head in the direction of an opening in the crowd. Tenten's eyes widened. He was telling her to go…he was acting as a diversion!

With a quick nod, she crept back from the younger girls until she was out of their line of vision, then pressed her hands together and mouthed a thank-you to Sasuke before making her escape across the rooftops.

-

"How did you know?"

"Naruto tried to do the same thing," Sasuke murmured, absently flipping a kunai from his old grip to the new one and back again. "He made it obvious."

From the corner of his eye, he caught Tenten grinning faintly at the new habit he seemed to have picked up. "Your team really looks out for you, don't they?"

Sasuke snorted with distaste. "Not exactly." She chuckled lightly, and they lapsed into an easy silence.

It was starting to feel more natural for Sasuke to come to this clearing, despite the years of letting himself forget that it existed. It had been the first place he could think of after making his own escape from Sakura and Ino - he'd had so much practice by now that it was second nature - and that was where he'd caught up with Tenten.

"So," she piped up after a moment, clasping her hands under her legs, "now what?"

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, you obviously just saved me from certain death," she said matter-of-factly, though her eyes held a teasing spark. "So as a rule, I'm indebted to you. What do you want?"

It took Sasuke a grand total of two seconds to think it over, as this led quite well into what he'd been about to bring up anyway.

"A rematch," he said simply, switching to the correct grip on his kunai and pitching it into the bull's-eye of the target above her head. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, huh?" Tenten bit her lip thoughtfully, reaching up to take the kunai from its target. "I don't know…you won't be up to speed yet from those cuts. That gives you a handicap," she pointed out, tossing the kunai back to strike a target a few inches off to his side.

Sasuke shot her a dry look. "You think I'll have a handicap."

"I  _know_  you will."

After a moment, Sasuke wrenched out the kunai once more. "Fine. Then tomorrow," he threw it back again, this time at twice the force, "no weapons."

He didn't bother to hide his satisfaction when the knowing grin vanished from her face.

Then a competitive glint sharpened her eyes. "Fine." The kunai was removed from her target yet again, only to strike his own bull's-eye so hard that the target rattled against the tree trunk. "Then the  _next_  fight has to be nothing  _but_  weapons."

Sasuke's eyebrows briefly lifted with the stakes, but he gave a crisp nod. "Fine."

The glint in her eyes only intensified. " _Fine_."

Pulling the kunai out one last time, Sasuke got to his feet, unable to contain a smirk at the thought of the challenges ahead. When Tenten stood as well, Sasuke pitched the kunai downward, driving it into the ground to mark the location. "Tomorrow, then."

Tenten nodded, her face mirroring his own satisfaction with the plan. "Tomorrow."

And as soon as they had parted ways, Sasuke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced the curse back down.


	5. Specter

" _Shishi Rendan!"_

_The force of impact between Tenten's body and the ground sent the birds fleeing from their branches. If she hadn't partially blocked him, Sasuke was certain she would be coughing up blood right now._

_As it was, a choked yelp escaped her throat, sounding as much annoyed as it did pained. It was only after he had a kunai, the first and only weapon produced in the spar, held securely to her throat, that Sasuke shifted to take the pressure off her stomach. Immediately Tenten gasped in as much air as her body would allow._

_Sasuke waited patiently until she was pulled together enough to shoot him a glare, then responded with a triumphant smirk. "Match."_

" _Yeah, yeah…"_

_Sasuke had a feeling that Tenten wasn't going to be the only one hurting tomorrow. When her weapons were taken away, it suddenly became very clear that Hyuuga Neji hadn't been her only training partner. She performed taijutsu with the intelligence of one used to defending against it, deliberately aiming for body parts that were deceptively difficult to block._

_But in the end, they both knew this wasn't her battle. She was out of her element. And impressive as it had been when she had managed to break away from the first part of his Shishi Rendan - unsurprisingly, the part that he had copied from Lee - and even reverse their positions for a moment, it had been too little, too late._

" _Your chakra control is weak," he informed her, quite comfortable with staying crouched right where he was, though he did pull back the kunai._

_Tenten wrinkled her nose, not bothering to try and sit up yet. "I hate chakra control…"_

" _Doesn't matter. It's weak."_

_For a second, Tenten looked like she was a heartbeat away from sticking her tongue out at him. Instead, she hastily blew her bangs out of her eyes, then propped herself up on an elbow and lightly pushed back on his shoulder. "Get up. And fix your grip."_

_Sasuke snorted, but obeyed both commands, too satisfied with his win to be annoyed. It had been a good battle._

_Tenten pushed herself to her feet with a visible wince, then rolled her shoulders a couple of times. Her expression spoke of someone who was used to losing battles, but also used to seeing victory within her grasp. Frustrated, but not necessarily with her opponent._

" _Chakra control isn't everything," she blurted indignantly after a moment, taking out the one kunai on her person - the only one either of them had allowed themselves, for the sole purpose of proclaiming a win - and absently twirling it between her fingers. Sasuke leaned against a tree, skeptically crossing his arms. Tenten rolled her eyes. "Yours isn't perfect either."_

" _It's better than yours."_

" _And my aim is better than yours. So what?"_

" _It didn't help you much just now."_

_Tenten bristled at the impish smirk he didn't really feel like suppressing, spinning her kunai into the air before catching it flawlessly. "Just wait until next time. We'll see how much your chakra control helps you then."_

_He didn't doubt it for a moment; luckily, she didn't have to know that. On the surface, he merely lifted up his kunai, adjusting his grip before she could call him on it._

" _We'll see."_

-

**Chapter 5: Specter**

-

When Tenten approached the Uchiha clearing for the third time that week - the first being for the spar Sasuke had proposed, the second being for her own - the sight of him stopped her in her tracks.

She was a little late, having just come from a particularly long visit with Lee - she was thrilled that he had gotten his enthusiasm back, but after the twelfth time assuring him that her abundance of fresh bruises was from training,  _not_  enemy ninjas, she had taken the first opportunity to make her escape - and had expected to find that Sasuke had gone ahead and started practicing without her. Instead, she found him kneeling on the ground, his body completely still.

Tenten couldn't quite see his face, but even from her distance, there was an air of concentration around him. She could hear it in his silence; even his breaths seemed like afterthoughts.

Frowning, Tenten crept away from the path to get a better vantage point.  _What is he--_

One last step answered her question. As soon as the image registered in her mind, Tenten's hand flew to her mouth.  _The kunai…_

The kunai. The ancient one she had found in this very clearing not two weeks ago, the one she had driven into the ground in front of the broken tree. The one bearing the crest of the Uchiha clan.

Her eyes darted back to Sasuke's face, now visible, but there was nothing there. There was no glint of sorrow when he reached forward to rest his fingers on the aging metal, loosely grasping the handle, but not pulling it from the ground. No spark of anger when his thumb ran over the little engraved fan.

Tenten felt her heart tighten a bit in her chest, feeling horribly careless for leaving the kunai there. She should have tracked him down and given it to him when she'd found it instead of playing along with those stupid little ghost stories. It wasn't her place. And now he had found it, and for the life of her she couldn't read how it was affecting him.  _What does he see when he looks at that?_

Even as the thought ran through her mind, the fog lifted a bit from his eyes, and he silently drew back his hand. Another second, and he rose to his feet, finally looking away from the kunai when the moment stretched too long.

It was only when he had gone into his usual warm-ups that Tenten deemed it safe to reveal herself, and made a point of moving as noisily as possible on entering the clearing, just for good measure. "Hey," she greeted him, easily injecting a cheerful ring into her voice.

Sasuke grunted in reply, only sparing her a quick glance. "You're late."

"Yeah…" she agreed, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "Sorry. Lee was feeling really talkative today. He can go for ages without taking a breath when he gets excited." He dismissed her excuse with a wave of his hand, and it occurred to Tenten that he had probably heard a lot worse.

"…So," she began again, "I was thinking that maybe we could just work with the targets today."

He paused.

When he didn't immediately protest, she went on. "I heard it's supposed to storm sometime tonight, and also…well."

Finally Sasuke turned, quirking an eyebrow at her. "What?"

Tenten shrugged. "I just thought you might need a day off after last time…" He shot her a halfhearted glare, and she stifled a laugh. "Quit acting tough. You've been favoring your right knee since I got here. A bo staff will do that."

"Hmph." He turned around again, showing no sign of agreement.

He didn't deny it, either.

-

_With a last spin of her bo staff, Tenten lithely dodged a kunai's jab and thrust the staff forward, slamming it into Sasuke's chest and pinning him to a tree. "Give up?"_

_Shaking off a wince from the impact, Sasuke glared at her a moment, then darted one hand up, probably for an attempt at breaking the staff in two. Tenten narrowed her eyes._ Stubborn…

_She brought the staff into a spin again before he could make contact. In one swift motion, Tenten caught Sasuke hard under the chin, then at the knee, then in the stomach, and finally finished with one end of the staff at his throat, her hand in position to shove it forward if needed._

_Tenten lowered her head and looked up at him pointedly, lifting an eyebrow. "Give up?" she repeated._

_Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, as she was finding it often did when he was backed into a corner. Then, with what looked like an enormous effort, he lowered his hands to his sides, letting both kunai drop to the ground in defeat._

_Tenten smirked. "Good choice. Now that I've got your attention," she went on quickly, adding some pressure when he tried to move, "quit pouting and listen up."_

_Sasuke looked affronted. "I'm_ not-"

" _Your first mistake," Tenten began, bypassing his protest completely, "was assuming that you would have the upper hand in close combat, just because I'm a weapon-user. Any weapon-reliant shinobi, given the proper knowledge, can be just as versatile, if not more versatile than any other ninja._

" _And second," she finally pulled back the bo staff, holding it casually over her shoulder while Sasuke grudgingly rubbed his neck, "you're still using too much force when you throw. I told you, if you don't let up, you-"_

" _-won't get anywhere," Sasuke finished for her with an ill-concealed roll of his eyes, then proceeded to collect his kunai without missing a beat._

_After a moment of speechlessness, Tenten crossed her arms with a good-natured huff. "Brat. And here I was about to compliment you!" He replied with an uncaring grunt, and Tenten shook her head, moving to deactivate the weapons she'd summoned for the battle. "You're as bad as Neji…"_

_She saw Sasuke flinch from the corner of her eye and grinned to herself, heading toward her duffel bag and casually twirling a last kunai around her finger._

" _I'm listening."_

_Tenten suppressed a laugh at his reluctant surrender, bending down to finish packing up her bag. "Hmm?" she asked with feigned innocence, reaching to pick up a stray kunai he'd missed. "I don't hear anything…"_

" _Tenten." He caught her wrist as she passed him by, looking at her with a combination of annoyance and the slightest trace of badly hidden curiosity, to which she responded with an overly sweet smile. He didn't seem to notice that she was twirling two kunai now instead of one. "What?"_

_Sighing, Tenten lifted the arm he was holding, pulling her wrist away and replacing it with his kunai, which he automatically closed his fingers around. "Your grip…" she began, and she could almost feel him start to roll his eyes again. Quickly she lifted her gaze from his kunai to catch his eye, keeping his attention. Her cheeky smile faded into something genuine._

"… _is a lot better."_

-

"Fine."

Tenten seemed to do a mental double-take. "Really?" Sasuke nodded. For once, he really wasn't in the mood to spar either.

At 3:30 that morning, he had jerked awake in a cold sweat, his body torn between the chill of his room and the searing heat of his curse seal. He'd been dreaming again. Night was the only time that he couldn't assert control over the emotions that seemed to tie so deeply into the curse seal's power. It had taken the whole of a half hour for him to finally will the curse back, and by then he had been far too shaken up to get back to sleep.

As a result, he had wandered through his day in a sleep-deprived haze, his mind achingly sober. Added with the discovery of that kunai - he was tempted to glance at it again, but stopped himself; he was distracted enough today - he knew that any attempt at fighting would not end well.

If nothing else, it was a small comfort that Tenten seemed to have a talent for picking up on his moods. After the initial decision was made, she didn't prod him into conversation; she only moved to stand beside one of the targets in the clearing, proposed a new training exercise, and used her scroll to summon a small mountain of kunai for him.

From there, they were able to get into a good rhythm, with Sasuke throwing kunai at the target, and Tenten using her chakra to still the blade an inch away from the bull's-eye, then giving him tips on trajectory based on the speed and angle of the kunai. Sasuke had to admit that he was impressed; her chakra control had improved significantly since the fight earlier that week.

But as time passed, Sasuke began to feel a steadily increasing aura of frustration coming from Tenten's direction. A glance told him her hand was starting to shake from the strain of the chakra. When her control began to waver, nearly dropping the kunai, she gritted her teeth and muttered a curse to herself.

"No one is making you do that," he pointed out finally. Tenten shook her head.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I made you fix your aim without trying to fix my chakra control. Besides," she released her chakra and caught the kunai before it could drop, "we never really work on chakra control with Gai-sensei. This is a good opportunity."

"Never?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows. He'd been under the impression that Gai wasn't the type to cut corners.

Tenten shrugged. "Not really, no. Lee can't use chakra at all, so he would have no use for it. And Neji…well, he's a genius." He didn't miss the way her eyes softened when she said it. "His chakra control was at chuunin level when he graduated from the Academy. It wouldn't have been much help to either of them, so I just…stayed out of the way."

"Stayed out of the way," Sasuke repeated, putting away the kunai he held. A slow burn began to curdle in his stomach, a feeling that he could only compare to disappointment. "Why?"

Tossing the other kunai back to him, Tenten followed his lead and leaned back against a tree. A wry grin curled her lips. "Have you  _met_  my team?"

Sasuke was silent. After matching his gaze for a few stretched seconds, Tenten loosely gripped her elbows.

"It's different with them," she said, moving her eyes to their battered training ground. "From the very beginning, they were always out to prove something."

"You're not?"

"Should I be?"

She looked back at him, and a tense moment slowly passed between them. Sasuke frowned; she hadn't done this before. For the first time since they'd met, her gaze seemed shrouded, walled off somehow. She wasn't the type of person who should wall herself off. She was supposed to be the honest one.

Tenten deliberately looked away, he was sure, with the intent of avoiding an argument. He was finding that she did that a lot.

"…Besides," she said, "my team has enough spotlight-hogs as it is. Someone has to be the anchor, or we wouldn't be able to function."

Sasuke felt his eyes narrow a bit with distaste, and finally broke his gaze away from her. "So you're sacrificing your career for them."

"No…you're missing the point. I'm not giving any less than I'm capable of--"

"So if you were matched up with Hyuuga at the next preliminary exam?"

Tenten froze, even giving pause to the breath she'd been about to take. She didn't answer.

Sasuke could feel the candle's-flame of annoyance in the pit of his stomach begin to spread. "You'd let him win."

"He  _would_  win," she countered before he could inhale again. Her eyes said that she was trying very hard to be the sensible one here. "I've trained with him since we graduated, Sasuke. I can't beat him."

Sasuke made it clear in a quick exhale just what he thought of that.

"It's true!" A defensive rise in the volume of her voice broke through her shield of reason. "Not everyone is like you, Sasuke. It isn't as simple as watching a technique and knowing it, or having a will that won't break, or just being born perfect, we can't all have that! It's--"

She stopped herself then, taking a breath. Her voice had been steadily rising up to that point.

He wouldn't let her regroup now. "What?"

Tenten swallowed hard, and sighed. "…It's just hard, knowing you're always going to be held up to someone you can't reach."

(" _I am the barrier you must overcome…even if you hate me.")_

Sasuke could have sworn that his heart stopped beating.

-

Tenten felt her face pull into a frown when Sasuke's entire body stilled, a haze settling over his eyes. She remembered that look. He was seeing ghosts again.

"Sasuke?" she tried.

Nothing.

Setting aside her annoyance with him for the time being, Tenten pushed away from her tree and closed the space between them in a few strides. On reaching Sasuke, she carefully laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke."

This time he flinched, his eyes darting up to blink at her. She held his gaze. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke stared back at her for only a moment. Then he abruptly pushed past her into the center of the clearing, nearly knocking Tenten over with the unexpected jerk. In the same motion, he pulled a kunai from one of his holsters. "We're starting."

"Wha- _now?_ " Tenten asked, her voice sliding up in pitch with bewilderment. Straightening, she planted her hands on her hips. "I thought you said-"

"I know what I said. We're starting."

It occurred to Tenten that she could produce any number of good reasons why it wasn't a good time for that, but her hand was already moving to take out a kunai of her own. It wasn't like she hadn't done the same thing to him the week before. And after he'd found that kunai…she didn't know why, but she felt like she owed it to him.

Even as she moved to get in position, the first few drops of rain began to fall. A heartbeat later, they had begun.

Unlike those preceding it, this spar was disconcertingly silent. Sasuke didn't seem to be relying on strategy this time. For several minutes he came at her with nothing but his fists and that blade, the moves cleanly performed but sloppily timed. He wasn't focused.

Tenten could only defend and counter to the best of her ability while the drizzle steadily intensified into a downpour, trying not to show her concern.  _What happened to him?_

With every crash of thunder, Sasuke's movements grew more destructive and less predictable. He was trying to get rid of something. For the first time, Tenten found herself struggling to keep up with him. His feet were moving just a little too fast, his hands striking just a little too hard, his eyes seeing just a little too much.

Tenten gasped through the downpour, squinting her eyes into focus and instantly throwing her arms up to block another barrage. A flash of lightning reflected blood-red eyes, immediately followed by a roll of thunder that felt like it shook her very bones.  _Why is he using Sharingan?_

"Sasuke!" she called over the storm, only to have the breath forced from her lungs when he seized an opening. The next thing she knew, her back was slamming into a tree on the other side of the clearing. She reeled for a moment from the impact, and the back of his fist connected with her cheek. For a moment she could have sworn it was the ground that flew up to meet her, rather than the other way around.

Tenten quickly shook off the dizziness, and when he came at her again, she was ready. Borrowing a move from Lee, she brought her hand down on Sasuke's wrist, taking him down with his own momentum, and flipped over his head to regain her footing. When Sasuke launched toward her from his fall, Tenten asserted control, taking hold of both of his shoulders and pinning him to the nearest tree.

" _Sasuke_ ," she said again, holding him there, "that's enough! This forest is like a lightning rod, it's dangerous to be here!" Lightning flashed again, accented with a crash of thunder, and Tenten frowned. She could have sworn she saw something for the moment he was illuminated, like a shadow across his skin.

Just as quickly, she shook her head; this wasn't the time. She could feel him trembling with adrenaline under her hands. Catching his gaze, she set her jaw, ready to drag him out of there if she had to. "We have to-"

The kunai at her hip began to vibrate, and a loud crackling filled the air. Tenten felt her blood freeze.

Then she was throwing both Sasuke and herself to the ground, as far from any of the trees as she could get them, wrenching away her holster and the kunai in his hand and pitching them away, instinct taking over for a paralyzed mind. Just as she clapped her hands over her ears, the deafening roar of a thousand explosions filled the clearing, along with a flash of light so blinding that she could see it through her eyelids. Tenten could only duck her head and pray the lightning bolt wouldn't branch out to them from the trees.

After a few more seconds had passed with no heart-stilling jolts, Tenten felt Sasuke shift under her, and shakily sat up with him to squint through the gales and survey the damage. "You okay?" she asked him for the second time that day.

Sasuke nodded without looking at her. His eyes were no longer the color of blood; whatever she'd thought she saw, it was gone now. At worst, he looked understandably spooked.

There was another jarring crash of thunder, and both of them jumped. Staying here was not an option.

Sasuke was on his feet in seconds, jerking Tenten to hers with a firm grip on her wrist. They exchanged a glance so swift that their eyes barely met, and then they were off, Sasuke in front, Tenten following, hardly daring to look away for fear that she'd lose him completely, blinded by the rain. She kept her eyes locked on the Uchiha crest, only breaking the gaze once, just outside the clearing.

The broken tree at the entrance was the worst casualty of the lightning bolt. One of the three trunks had burned almost completely to black.

-

"Well?"

"A warning was issued for everyone in the village to stay inside until further notice," Sasuke confirmed, tossing the warning note into the trash, "three hours ago."

Tenten gave a wry, quivering laugh. "Three hours, huh?" Her hands were clenched around her arms, but doing nothing to still her shivering as she dripped rainwater onto the floor. Sasuke himself wasn't doing much better.

And thanks to this warning, it looked like they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

About the third time that thought repeated itself in his mind, paired with the sight of Tenten standing a bit awkwardly in his entryway, it occurred to Sasuke that he had a role to step into here.

"Uh…come in," he said finally, the words sounding foreign on his tongue; it had been so long since anyone had come here. "The living room is…" he let an absent gesture finish the sentence for him, not quite sure what exactly he was expected to do. "…You can sit down."

Tenten gave him a slightly apologetic smile and gingerly stepped out of her shoes. "Thanks."

As soon as she was in, Sasuke went to his room, rifled through his closet, and by some miracle managed to find a plain black t-shirt and pajama pants that didn't have his family crest sewn in. They would be big on her, but better that than both of them catching pneumonia.

Sasuke reemerged in the same daze that had been hovering around him for some time now. Without a sound he padded by the door to what was once his parents' room; what was once his father's study; what was once  _his_  room, the same room Sasuke had torn apart in a rage two weeks after the massacre, and the same room that he had painstakingly restored the very next day, though both acts had stemmed from the same unbearable, driving need.

Any desire to enter that room had since vanished. The desperation had not.

Sasuke shook his head. He'd just had one too many shocks today. It had thrown him off balance. He just had to get them both settled, get himself dry, sit down for a minute, and avoid any more scares--

When he set foot in the living room, his heart dropped a beat for the third time that day.

She had hardly moved from her position on the couch. The only changes at all were that she had taken her hair down, presumably to let it dry, and that the small drawer in the end-table by the couch was slightly ajar and empty, its single content held with care in her hands.

Tenten looked up when his footsteps came to a halt in the doorway, and something warm and aching rose in Sasuke's chest. The picture frame in her hands was turned just enough towards him, held just close enough to Tenten's face, to render him speechless. His gaze could only fasten on the two pairs of dark eyes that looked back at him; the two heads of long, dark hair, damp ( _she had just come in from the rain that day, a Saturday in May_ ), cascading over their shoulders; the nearly identical expressions of surprise on their faces ( _she hadn't been expecting her husband, a younger, happier man who their sons would only know in unreliable toddler-minds, to be waiting with a camera; it had been her birthday, that was why…),_ which carried the barely-noticeable gauntness that came from caring too much for others.

For a moment, he had believed…

But one of the faces animated then, breaking the spell. "Oh, I…sorry," Tenten murmured, suddenly looking flustered. She quickly moved to put the photo back in its drawer. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine." Leaving the doorway, Sasuke took the frame from her, trading it for the pile of clothes and a towel. "The bathroom is down the hall. You can change in there," he said quietly, setting the frame not in the drawer, but on top of the end table. Somehow the idea of shutting his mother away again made his stomach turn.

Tenten didn't move for a second. Sasuke didn't need to look to know why, as the very air surrounding her now held a strong current of guilt. He took a breath, willing his heart to slow its pounding; she had done nothing wrong.

"…You look just like her," Tenten finally tried, wrapping up tightly in the towel he'd brought her.

Sasuke looked away from her, from the way she looked sitting next to that photo, her wet hair framing her face in that way that was so achingly familiar. "So do you," he murmured under his breath.

"What?"

He shook his head.

-

It was a rumble of thunder that woke her up, followed by a flash of lightning that illuminated a room she had never seen before. _  
_

Disoriented, Tenten instinctively scanned the room for a clock, coming to rest on the first one she found. Just after one o'clock. One o'clock in the morning and she was alone in a bed that certainly wasn't her futon, in a room that certainly wasn't her apartment.

Then a second flash lit the room, correcting her assumption: she wasn't alone. Someone had rolled out a sleeping bag on the floor - Sasuke. That's right, that's where she was. But how had she ended up in his room? After that awful moment in the living room - there he was, letting her stay in his house and borrow his clothes, and what did she do but pull out something that was obviously painful for him and rub it in his face,  _that's_  how she thanked him? - she had changed as instructed, then gone back to the couch to wait for Sasuke to come back out of his room. She remembered she had curled up over the arm of the couch, and then…what?

With a small groan, Tenten turned onto her back and covered her face with her hands. She must have fallen asleep right there, without even thanking him for the clothes. Strike two.

A particularly discordant crash of thunder made her flinch, and she dropped her hands back to her sides, then propped herself up on one elbow to look at Sasuke again. The storm didn't seem to be disturbing him at all, but it couldn't be comfortable down there.

Well, she may have been a horrible guest so far, but she would at least let him have his own bed. Slipping out from under the sheets, Tenten knelt at his side and touched his shoulder, whispering his name. He didn't stir. "Hey. Sasuke," she tried again, a little louder, shaking him a little; he gave no response whatsoever. If not for the slight movement that came with the steady breathing of deep sleep, she would have been worried.

Heaving a breath, Tenten crossed her arms. "You're going to make me put you up there myself, aren't you?" she murmured, then shook her head. "Guess I deserve it. Okay, come on…"

She had just managed to get one arm under Sasuke's shoulders, the other supporting his back from the odd angle, when quite suddenly he sat bolt upright, nearly scaring her out of her skin. Heavy eyelids lifted open, and his eyes came to settle directly on her.

Tenten mentally strangled herself. On top of everything else, now he was going to think she was just like one of his obsessed fangirls, trying to molest him in his sleep-

But he didn't say a word. He only looked down, his eyelids drooping, then grabbed his pillow - and inadvertently, Tenten's arm along with it, triggering a shriek that she quickly stifled - and dropped back into unconsciousness.

"Sasuke!" she hissed again after a moment, incredulous that he was really still sleeping. A few increasingly determined attempts to free herself did absolutely nothing against a grip she was certain he could never match when he was awake. "Are you kidding me... _Sasuke._ "

Finally, Tenten sighed, giving up and slumping into a sitting position. Apparently Sleeping Sasuke had some things in common with Drunk Lee, and if that was the case, she wasn't getting her arm back anytime soon.

But a halfhearted glare in Sasuke's direction could only turn into a helpless little smile. With her free hand, she reached over to gently ruffle his hair, a sisterly gesture she was so rarely given the opportunity to use. Then she leaned back next to him at as respectful a distance as she could manage, draping an arm over her stomach, and let her eyes drift shut, allowing herself to be lulled into a slumber by the soft roar of the rain outside, mixed with the whispers of a house filled with memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tenten and I do not claim to know a measly thing about lightning-strike safety. Please consult legitimate sources to learn more about what to do if you are caught outside in a thunderstorm and are in danger of being struck by lightning. /PSA


	6. Prophecy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely flawless art for this chapter's opening scene by [VioletVolchok](http://violetvolchok.deviantart.com/) is [here](http://violetvolchok.deviantart.com/art/Close-183688195). Go forth and comment and sing this artist's praises!

_In the last hazy moments before Sasuke awoke, he was in another time._

_He was small - surely no older than seven - small, and sleepy, and warm. And someone was very close by._

_His first thought was that it was probably Mother, fallen asleep at his side after telling him stories until the storm passed. Or maybe it was Niisan, allowing him to curl in close just for a little while, silently shielding him from the thunder, like he used to._

_Like he used to…before…_

_Suddenly the fog of sleep was clearing far too quickly._

_But even as the nightmare of memories unfolded, unwanted flashes of reality flickering behind his eyes, the one anomaly that kept him there was that small circle of warmth, that consistency - someone was with him._

_It took another full minute for that to sink in, and in the process, become a little disturbing._

_Finally he blinked open his eyes, and was immediately blinded by the sunlight streaming through the window. Was it that late already?…Sasuke ducked his head a bit to shield his eyes, his whole body reflexively curling up with it, and a spark of confusion hit him when his fingers tightened around some sort of fabric._ What…?

_As soon as his eyes had adjusted enough that he didn't have to squint, Sasuke lifted his head to take a better look at his surroundings. And he froze._

_Someone was indeed with him. The only one who_ could _be with him. The fabric in his hand was the bottom of the shirt he'd lent her the night before; the warmth around him came from the small weight of her arm, loosely draped over him. Protective, almost._

_Other than that, she wasn't touching him. There was something strangely comforting in that thought._

_Sasuke slipped his fingers away from the soft material, feeling childish for holding on even this long. But he didn't move right away. For just a moment, he dared to turn his eyes upward and study Tenten's face, searching for any of the overwhelming similarities he had seen in her the night before._

_Up close, the differences were more noticeable. Tenten's looks were fairly well-defined , unlike the soft features that had always been characteristic of the Uchiha line; her hair, splayed across her shoulders and the floor, was a bit lighter than he'd originally thought. From here (and what was she doing down here?), her appearance was very much her own._

_But at the same time, there was something…_

_Tenten shifted a bit in her sleep, jerking Sasuke out of his analysis and abruptly setting his mind into motion. He had to get up. This was not what he should be doing._

_With another quick sweep of their positions with his eyes, Sasuke summoned up as much subtlety as he could so soon after waking, and carefully moved Tenten's arm away from his shoulder. Why it felt so necessary not to wake her up, he couldn't quite say. Either way, he quietly let out his breath when she barely stirred, only turning a bit and draping her arm over her stomach._

_Sasuke stood then, tossing a glance at the clock on the way out of the room, and silently reprimanded himself for sleeping so long._

_On the way through the living room, he paused. His eyes came to rest on his mother's picture, right where he'd left it. The drawer it had come from was still ajar._

_Sasuke's feet were carrying him toward the end table before he made any conscious choice to do so, and then he was standing before it, closing his fingers around the frame. A layer of dust still clung to it, with the exception of his and Tenten's fingerprints. He couldn't remember the last time it had left that drawer._

_It had most likely been the last time any other pictures of his old life had left their hiding places, he reasoned. He'd hidden them away long ago, unable to bear seeing them, but even less able to bear getting rid of them. Some days just the knowledge that the images still existed all around him, hidden away everywhere he could think of, but that he couldn't bring himself to face them, made him feel like more of a coward than he would ever admit._

_But not right now._

_Sasuke looked to the open drawer, then back to the frame, taking in a moment lost to time and foggy memory, then gently set the photo back on top of the end table and pushed the drawer shut. His mother's dark, sparkling eyes looked out from the picture frame, being given the light of day for the first time in years, and Sasuke took a deep breath._

_Today, somehow, he felt like he could face her._

-

**Chapter 6: Prophecy**

-

"Your clothes are dry."

Tenten's footsteps stopped short in the doorway. Sasuke spared her a glance before turning his eyes back to the counter, carefully packing together another handful of rice for onigiri. "They're hanging up."

After a hesitant moment, her footsteps began again, less gingerly this time. "I saw," she replied finally, the words elongating with a covered yawn. "Thanks."

Sasuke didn't look up when she leaned over his shoulder to observe. "Onigiri for breakfast, huh?" she asked after a moment, amusement playing behind her voice.

"…Yeah." Any attempt to keep the slight flush from his cheeks was in vain; in truth, he could count the number of actual breakfast foods he'd had in the past month on one hand. His glaringly empty refrigerator could attest to that.

But a quiet laugh told him it didn't seem to bother her. "Well, you make them better than I do. Mine always end up looking like a Bunshin gone horribly wrong."

The side of Sasuke's mouth quirked up, but he didn't reply, instead making a careless gesture at a couple of riceballs he'd already finished making, in case she thought she needed permission. She seemed to take the hint and accepted the invitation, inclining her head in thanks before taking the onigiri to the table. Another minute, and he joined her, taking a seat across from her.

"Mm--" Tenten stopped to swallow her mouthful of rice, holding up a finger for Sasuke to wait. "--I almost forgot. Someone left a note on your window," she said finally. "I wasn't sure if you'd seen it already, so it's still there."

Sasuke only gave a quick nod in reply, taking an unconcerned bite of his own onigiri. Kakashi-sensei was the only one who ever left messages for him; if it was urgent, he would know. Tenten quietly returned to her plate.

This was…not what he'd expected, Sasuke decided as the silence stretched through the minutes. Not that he knew exactly what he  _had_  expected, but he had thought that this would feel a little more strange. It had been almost five years now since he had started a morning with anyone but himself, especially in this house. And if Hyuuga had been telling the truth, then Tenten probably lived alone as well. The silence was habit, but it was comfortable.

Had he really thought he would forget what this felt like?

As soon as she was done, Tenten vanished into the bathroom to shower and change (though not before insisting on washing both plates, claiming it was to make up for her apparently horrible manners the night before - how horrible one's manners could be when they were asleep, Sasuke couldn't really say), leaving Sasuke to return to his room.

Sure enough, there was a small, folded piece of paper sandwiched between the window and the sill, sporting his name in Kakashi-sensei's familiar scrawl. He had probably only missed it the first time because he'd been focused on getting up without waking Tenten…

Sasuke paused. If the note had already been there when he woke up…and Tenten had gotten up after him…then that meant Kakashi-sensei would have seen…

His eyes, widening of their own accord, darted back to the paper. Suddenly he wasn't so sure he wanted to know what was inside.

Finally, swallowing hard, Sasuke opened the note with a flick of his wrist, then silently took in the message within.

_Chidori training today at noon. The usual place._

_-K_

_P.S.-Hope you slept well!_

A rush of heat went to Sasuke's face, and he hastily closed the note, as though that would make it so that his sensei  _hadn't_  just jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Or maybe he really hadn't. There were still times that Sasuke couldn't really tell.

Across the hall, the shower stopped running. Sasuke glanced at the clock, then back at the note, suddenly wondering just how long Tenten planned on staying here. She wasn't being a problem, but he honestly wasn't sure what he was supposed to do until she left.

As if on cue, Tenten chose that moment to reappear in her own clothes, hair tied back into its usual style , the borrowed shirt and pants from that night draped over one arm. At the sight of him frowning at the note, she paused. "Everything okay?" she asked, nodding at the note.

Flinching back to life, Sasuke gave an absent nod. He tossed the note aside and took the clothes from her, depositing them in the laundry basket he kept under his bed, suddenly in desperate need to distract himself from the new situation with Kakashi-sensei. "Training."

Tenten was quiet for a little too long, and when Sasuke looked up, he found that her eyes were fastened on the clock. "Today's Sunday, isn't it?" she asked slowly.

No sooner had Sasuke nodded, than Tenten had paled and burst into motion, flying past him to pack up her scrolls, cursing under her breath. "I'm so late! I'm supposed to be at the training grounds right now…!"

Finally she gave up on the last stubborn scroll, throwing it between her teeth before quickly checking that her kunai holsters were in place. Then she shot to her feet, looking ready to sprint through the wall if she had to. She was through the doorway and in the hall in the next second. Once there, though, she paused, then took the scroll from her mouth and whirled around on her heel, moving fluidly into a grateful bow. "Thanks for everything, and sorry for being rude and creepy, it really was an accident, but thanks - the onigiri was really good!" A wordless nod in reply, and she spun back around and dashed out the front door.

Sasuke eyed the doorway for a few seconds, feeling vaguely as though a small hurricane had just left his house. Then, shaking his head, he proceeded to go about his usual routine.

Problem solved.

-

This was a problem.

Tenten panned her eyes over their section of the training grounds, still winded from her mad dash over the rooftops from Sasuke's place. From this standpoint, it seemed that despite the fact that her teammate was the epitome of punctuality, she was very much alone. Her brow creased in a frown.  _It_ looks _like the right place…so where is--_

A one-second warning, no more than the barely-audible whistling of steel, was all that preceded her answer.

The moment her mind registered the sound, Tenten's body jolted into motion, her legs springing her into the air just in time to avoid the small wave of kunai that shot into the ground where she had been standing, her hands instinctively gripping her own kunai and pitching them back at her attacker, then coming together to form a combination of quick seals.

But her assailant was faster; no sooner had she formed the last seal than she was suddenly trapped, one of her arms being twisted behind her back, and one of his locking around her shoulders, holding her in place. She only struggled for a moment, grunting with the effort, before two words from him, growled quietly against her ear, brought her to a pause.

"You're late."

-

It was only after Sasuke had spent five minutes waiting, seven warming up, and eight more practicing his kunai deflection, that he finally came to a pause, tossing a frown over his shoulder. "You're late."

In response, a gloved hand came down to muss his hair, for the sole purpose of making him bristle. "I confess…" his sensei sighed. "I was detained by a swarm of locusts. I'm going to have a word with the Aburame head when we're done, actually..."

Sasuke gave a small snort, giving his sensei points for creativity, if nothing else. Finally releasing him, Kakashi-sensei passed Sasuke to stand off to the side, motioning for him to continue with the kunai while he pulled out his book. "Good to see you found the note," he said while Sasuke pulled out his next pair of kunai. "I was afraid I'd have to tell Sakura you'd fallen into a mysterious coma. She would be heartbroken."

Sasuke rolled his eyes before continuing, throwing first one kunai, then another, in attempt to strike the first and hit the target at an angle. He hadn't mastered it yet, but he was coming closer.

"Overslept," he muttered.

-

"I'm not  _that_  late," Tenten argued, not bothering to struggle against Neji's grip. Better if he didn't see how her face was flushing with the close proximity, in any case. "I just…overslept."

Neji made a sound of disapproval. "Your apartment is southeast of here," he stated, slackening his grip a bit when he noticed she wasn't fighting him. "Why did you come from the opposite direction?"

Hastily blowing her bangs out of her eyes, Tenten shot him an irritated look over her shoulder. "You're just full of questions today, aren't you?"

And with a flash and a puff of smoke, she activated the substitution jutsu she'd set up just before he'd grappled her and quickly got some distance, landing in a crouch next to the target posts. When Neji shot out of the smoke, Byakugan activated, she smirked; that was more like it. Closing her fingers around a scroll, Tenten met him with steel, and from there they fell comfortably into their usual routine.

The conversation was dropped for a few minutes, as they were busy instead with the familiar volley of shuriken and chakra, speed and stillness. When Neji lured her into close combat, Tenten quickly armed herself with a pair of tonfa and used all her speed - the one area in which she knew they were on equal ground - to block a double-strike, halting them in a brief stalemate.

But now that she was up close, Tenten saw that Neji's eyes were still narrowed slightly, a subtle expression that his teammates recognized as dissatisfaction. "What?" she asked, her voice a bit strained with the effort. "We can go an extra ten minutes if it's bothering you  _that_  much."

Neji only gave a small shake of his head, quite suddenly letting up. Tenten instinctively moved with her inertia to seize an opening, but cut herself off with a surprised yelp when instead of blocking, Neji caught her wrist, sending one of the tonfa flying when her fingers opened. As abruptly as he had began it, Neji brought the spar to a complete halt, his eyes locking onto the hand that he now held captive. His eyebrows lowered.

"Neji?" Tenten tried after a moment.

Keeping his Byakugan activated, Neji turned her hand over and briefly studied it.

"Your chakra tunnels are swelled," he said after a beat, a frown creasing his brow. "That happens with overuse."

Loosening his grip a bit, Neji glanced up. "What have you been doing?"

-

Kakashi-sensei didn't respond to Sasuke's excuse, instead leaning forward to scrutinize his technique. "You've improved," he commented after a moment, his visible eyebrow lifting slightly. "Quite a bit."

Then his sensei's gaze was on him, calm and curious. "What exactly have you been doing?"

Sasuke gave a careless shrug, frowning at the nearly-missed target, then at the readied kunai in his hand. Too much force.  _She was right…_

Shaking his head, Sasuke repeated the maneuver. This time it came up a little short, and he muttered a curse under his breath. "Extra training," he answered aloud, if a bit distractedly, while he pulled out the next pair.

"I see."

Kakashi-sensei kept quiet while Sasuke readied the blades, then threw them once more, one after the other. There was a perfectly-timed  _clink_  when the second kunai struck the first, sending it whistling into the target.

Bull's-eye.

Kakashi-sensei's visible eye took in the target, then moved back to Sasuke, curving a bit with a subtle but knowing smile. "She's a good teacher."

So he did know.

Sasuke slowly rose out of his stance, letting his gaze linger on the successful kunai.

"…Yeah."

After a silent, stretched moment, Kakashi-sensei pushed away from the tree he'd been leaning on. "Well! I assume you're warmed up…"  _Twenty minutes ago,_ Sasuke muttered inwardly, "…so let's move along, shall we?"

Sasuke nodded, unconsciously flexing his fingers in preparation to form the Chidori, but Kakashi-sensei raised a hand to stop him.

"We'll start by working with your chakra control."

-

"…I've been working on chakra control," Tenten finally answered, forcing herself to blink after being so suddenly locked into Neji's gaze. She averted her eyes and focused instead on her hand, trying and failing to see what he was seeing. "Is it really that bad? It's felt a little stiff lately, but I didn't think I was doing any dam-"

"Chakra control."

Blinking again, Tenten found that Neji's face had gone flat. When she nodded, his frown deepened. "You  _hate_  chakra control."

To her own surprise, Tenten laughed.

"Yeah," she agreed after a moment, throwing a glance at the ground before lifting her eyes again. "But you said I should have a plan, right? Well…" She nodded at her hand, still cradled in his. "I'm just not quite used to it yet, that's all."

With a dissatisfied grunt, Neji lowered his eyes to her hand for a moment more; then he unceremoniously let go. "You're overdoing it," he stated. "If you keep focusing your chakra in only one area, you'll only limit yourself."

Tenten faltered for only a moment, struck with a sensation she couldn't quite place.

Neji seemed to decide then that the conversation was over, turning toward the center of the training grounds, her lateness apparently forgotten. "We should start."

Tenten came to herself and nodded. "Yeah…"

But for some reason, an echo came back to her from the day before.

" _So you're sacrificing your career for them."_

Frowning at the ground, Tenten stubbornly followed after Neji. Sasuke was wrong. She wasn't sacrificing anything. She  _liked_  helping Neji and Lee. After all, she was sure they would do the same for her if she asked.

… _If I…_

Tenten started, her feet slowing under her. Had she  _ever_  asked either of them for help? A quick sweep of her memory turned up nothing. Even during the Chuunin Exams, when Neji had caught her fresh out of the hospital to ask for her help with the Kaiten, it hadn't even occurred to her to do anything but accept.

_Has it always been like this?_

She subtly shook her head. What did it matter if she'd never asked for their help? She was a strong, independent kunoichi who had no problem taking care of her team. One of the things she prided herself on was that she was different from the hot-blooded genin who would throw themselves into the spotlight at every chance. She had never needed it before, and she didn't need it now.

_But still…_

By now, she had come to a complete stop, her eyes clouded in thought. For some reason, Sasuke's accusation wouldn't get out of her mind.

"…Neji?" she'd blurted before she could decide against it. Up ahead, he paused, glancing back at her.  _Now or never…_

"Um…I know we were going to do the usual routine today, but…" She briefly bit her lip, frustrated with herself; why was she making this so difficult? Giving herself an inward pinch, Tenten lifted her eyes and steeled her voice. "After deflection training…or sometime…do you think you could help me with my chakra control?"

Just as Tenten's had only moments before, Neji's face briefly went blank. It looked like it had never occurred to him either.

-

Sasuke's face briefly went blank. "Chakra control?" Kakashi-sensei nodded, and Sasuke frowned. "You said this would be Chidori training."

"It is," Kakashi said. When Sasuke remained nonplussed, Kakashi-sensei lowered his book, calmly meeting his gaze. "It's been almost two months since the Chuunin Exams, Sasuke. I haven't been able to work with you one-on-one since then. I need to know what your limits are now to train you effectively against the curse seal."

Sasuke flinched.

"Unless," he went on, a bit more slowly, "you've noticed any changes in the seal's behavior since we last spoke about it. If that were the case, this session could go very differently." Kakashi-sensei lowered his head a bit and caught Sasuke's eye, posing the question without saying a word.

Sasuke lowered his eyes and shook his head.

"Very well." Kakashi-sensei lifted up his book again. "In that case, I'll need you to go into the chakra concentration exercise I taught you during the Exam. Then we'll get back to the Chidori."

Sasuke could tell he wasn't going to win here; against Kakashi-sensei, it was a rare thing. So he only nodded, took his position, and focused all of his attention on his core, willing his chakra to behave as though he were in a battle, but purposely weakening it in the area around the curse seal. It was a difficult exercise that took a lot of patience he rarely possessed, but he couldn't deny that it helped.

"When is the next group training?" Sasuke asked as soon as he'd gotten the exercise in motion, keeping his eyes shut but needing something to keep him occupied.

Off to the side, he heard Kakashi-sensei shift, probably sitting down, as this tended to take a while. "Actually, not for a while."

Sasuke's eyes blinked open, his brow lowering in confusion. "What do you--" He cut himself off with a wince as a small lapse in his concentration sent a jolt of heat through him, and quickly asserted control again. "…What do you mean?"

"Stay focused," Kakashi-sensei instructed, briefly glancing up over his book. "And what I mean is, I've given Naruto a temporary instructor for a while." His eye lowered back to the pages. "He was feeling rather neglected."

Sasuke gave a small snort. "He feels neglected if you blink at him."

"Pots and kettles," Kakashi-sensei jabbed quietly, and Sasuke shot an affronted glare in his direction. "In any case," he went on, a hint of amusement now lacing his voice, "it is true. I can attend to your needs as a shinobi more effectively than I could with his. That, and I can say with complete certainty that this instructor will keep him busy."

His frown smoothing with curiosity, Sasuke turned his head a bit more in his sensei's direction. "Who is it?"

"Mm…let's just say he's a bit of a legend," Kakashi-sensei said slowly. Then, with a smile, "And a  _very_  talented novelist."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, but Kakashi-sensei's nose was buried in his book once again, so he closed his eyes and didn't bother to push any further. Either way, this was a good thing. It would be much easier to progress this way, when he wasn't distracted by Naruto and…

His eyes snapped open.

" _From the very beginning, they were always out to prove something…so I just stayed out of the way."_

If not for those words, it would have never crossed his mind.

"…What about Sakura?" he asked at length, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

A small rustling of paper told him that he'd surprised Kakashi-sensei into lowering his book again. "Sakura?" he repeated, and Sasuke nodded, taking care not to let up on his concentration.

"You said you sent Naruto to train with someone else, and you're here now." He turned his head to look at Kakashi-sensei more directly. "Who did you assign to her?"

For a little too long, Kakashi-sensei was silent.

-

After a small eternity of regarding Tenten in silence, something shifted in Neji's expression. Then he nodded. "Whenever you want."

"Really?" Tenten heard herself ask, wondering how those three words had just managed to make her day worth getting up for.

Neji hummed to the affirmative, his eyes clouding a bit, as they usually did when he was in the process of making a decision. "…After deflection," he determined at length, meeting her eyes again. "You aren't warmed up."

Tenten raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "Aren't I?" she asked slowly. "So your little sneak-attack earlier would be…"

"Punishment," he replied simply, a hint of a smirk playing at his lips, "for being late."

"Oh, really?" Taking the hint, Tenten cracked her knuckles - a habit she knew he hated - and pulled out a pair of kunai, spinning one into the air and catching it. "Hope you've been practicing, Hyuuga," she warned, returning the implied smirk in kind. "I've been putting in a lot of extra hours lately."

Finally looking satisfied, Neji fell easily into the stance for his Kaiten. "I noticed."

 _Really?_  Tenten had to smother the urge to pose the question aloud, just to see him confirm it, just to have that proof that all this work really was paying off. Instead, her grin only broadened. "Good. Then I'd better not catch you holding back."

-

"Well," Kakashi-sensei answered finally, "I haven't assigned anyone to her yet."

"Why not?"

Kakashi-sensei eyed him quizzically for a moment before giving any response. "Sakura is very different from you and Naruto," he said at length. "Her balance of abilities, and so her needs as a shinobi, are different. And especially after seeing her performance at the Chuunin Exams, I think that giving her the same curriculum as you two would, quite frankly, be holding her back."

Sasuke waited a moment for him to go on, but Kakashi-sensei seemed to have no more to say. His frown deepened. "That doesn't answe--"

"Concentrate," Kakashi-sensei interrupted, calmly lifting up his book once more. "Twenty minutes. Then we're moving on."

His tone, though casual as ever, left no room for argument, so Sasuke grudgingly gave up for the time being, facing forward and closing his eyes.

The remaining twenty minutes passed in silence, only broken by the occasional turn of a page. As soon as Kakashi-sensei was satisfied, they moved into what would become the hardest, most intensive training session Sasuke had been subjected to since the Chuunin Exams. He worked with the Chidori until his hands shook, until his sweat-soaked clothes clung to him and his vision tried to blur.

It was only when Kakashi-sensei cut him off with a hand on his shoulder that Sasuke's dwindling momentum finally came to a stop, and it was all he could do not to pass out on the spot. With his sensei's approval and an encouraging squeeze of his shoulder, he was released to wander back toward home, using the last bit of his strength to keep from looking as exhausted as he felt.

The one thing he could pride himself on, Sasuke reasoned as he weaved through the crowds on the main road, was the fact that even as difficult as the training had been, he had kept the curse seal under control. Not once had he felt the searing heat creeping over his skin, or the wrenching feeling in his chest; he'd even forgotten about it for a little while. It had been a long time since he could boast that.

_But why now?_

Why now, when he was so drained that he could barely function, when he'd worked with chakra more in one session than in the past week? Why could he control it when he was like this, and not when he was sitting with Tenten, perfectly rested and using no chakra at all?

He could probably have mulled over that question for a much longer time than he did, but the moment he got through his door and down the hall, the very sight of his bed waiting for him sent any remaining coherent thoughts flying from his mind. Three more steps, and he all but collapsed onto the mattress, gladly giving in to exhaustion.

And he dreamed.

-

"Your chakra still isn't focused enough."

"Neji, if I try to  _focus_  it any more, my hand is going to fall off."

"No, it isn't."

"Want to bet?" Tenten snapped through gritted teeth, darting a sharp glance in his direction before stubbornly re-focusing on her good hand, which was refusing to cooperate. Sweating with the effort, she made a feeble attempt to take a deep breath. "I hate chakra control…"

"I know."

"I know you know!"

Her retort was answered with a quick exhale, the closest Neji ever came to expressing amusement. Tenten was grateful beneath her frustration for how patient he'd been so far, but what he found so entertaining about her complaining, she couldn't guess.

At long last, Neji stepped forward and waved a hand for her to stop. A trace of a smirk was still playing at his lips, to which Tenten sent a halfhearted glare, but the moment was short-lived.

"Your chakra doesn't have direction," Neji said finally, scrutinizing her with his Byakugan. "Your body is still adjusting to using chakra as often as you're trying to. That's why it got difficult for you after a short time."

Tenten sighed, shaking the stiffness out of her hand. "Yeah…you were right, I've been overdoing it." She leaned back against one of the targets and pulled out one of the kunai she'd lodged in it, absently twirling it. "Someone pointed out that I wasn't good at it, so I guess I've been trying to prove him wrong."

"You mean Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yeah, he was being a real brat about it…" But she stopped then, looking up in surprise. "Wait, how did you--"

"The burns," Neji replied, deactivating his Byakugan to give his eyes a much-needed rest. "You kept coming back with new ones. He's the only one who uses that technique, and you only started getting them after that time in the clearing."

"Oh…well…yeah," Tenten said finally, wondering why she felt like she'd been caught in the act of something. After a moment, the kunai started twirling again, this time at twice the speed. "I've been helping him with his aim, and we've sparred a few times. I'm getting better at dodging that fire jutsu, actually..."

Neji studied her face carefully while she spoke, his own expression unreadable. "What about his chakra?"

Tenten sighed, knowing at once what he was really referring to. "It's been fine, Neji. Normal. It got a little weird once, but that was just for a second. Don't worry about it."

Whatever he would have said in response was cut off by the sound of footsteps from the entrance to the training grounds; their timeslot was over. Without a word, Neji moved to start gathering what was his, and Tenten proceeded to do the same. By the time she'd finished, though, she found that she was several kunai short.

Frowning, she stood up, absently cracking her knuckles. "Neji, is there anything of mine still over there?"

After a pause, he pocketed his last one. "No--stop that." He shot a glare at her fingers, and she stopped, grinning. Rolling his eyes, Neji took a last look around with his Byakugan, like he always did. "There's nothing left. You should have them all."

"That's weird…" As Team 8 approached to begin their session, she retraced her steps in her mind. She'd been in a hurry to leave Sasuke's, but most of the blades had been in their holsters all night, as she'd been only too happy to get them off her person after that lightning scare in the clearing…

And there her answer was.  _Of course, we didn't take the time to pick anything up after that lightning strike…_

Relaxing, Tenten waved a dismissive hand to Neji. "Never mind, I know where they are. We can go." Deactivating his Byakugan again, Neji rejoined her to head out of the grounds, nodding respectfully to Hinata as they passed her team.

It was only when they were a good distance past Team 8 that Neji spoke again, returning to the original subject. "That chakra…" he began slowly, as if unsure how to word it, "the abnormal chakra he has. It isn't his own. It comes from an external point on the left side of his body, between his shoulder and his neck. That is the source." Finally he looked up again. "I'm telling you this because you're around him when he uses chakra. If you sense  _that_  chakra, that source is what you should aim for."

"He isn't a complete brain case, Neji…" Tenten started, but the comment had little bite, as she was too affected by how honest his concern seemed to be. He was worried about her. "…but thanks. Thanks for everything today, I know it wasn't what you planned on."

Neji held up a dismissive hand, turning his gaze forward again as they reached the exit. "Keep your chakra evenly dispersed when you train. Don't try to concentrate it all at once."

"I won't," Tenten promised, then raised a hand in a wave before they parted ways, and she headed back toward the Uchiha clearing, the place that was starting to feel more and more like a safe haven. Her place.

No…not her place.

Their place.

-

_Why is this happening?_

Half his body was burning. The curse seal pulsed with renewed fervor, sending shockwaves through his blood with every beat. His own labored breaths stormed in his ears, muffled by the pillow he'd thrown over his face in attempt to suffocate a memory.

He hated dreaming.

Sasuke moved the pillow a bit to let himself breathe, focusing all his energy on keeping each breath slow and measured. If he relaxed, the curse would recede. He needed to stop thinking. Needed to stop thinking about  _him_.

And her. His mother had been there too.

It had been a recycled moment, one that he'd nearly lost. It wasn't his moment; he'd been an observer, peeking through the doorway of his room, intrigued by his mother's strange behavior. He'd wondered what could have moved her to approach Niisan in the middle of the hall and look at him like that, then step forward to wrap him in a tight, silent embrace. He'd puzzled at the way Niisan froze in her arms, neither rejecting the hug nor returning it. He'd watched quietly as she finally released him, wordlessly cupping his cheek for a moment and looking like she wanted to cry.

And he'd wondered what Niisan was thinking when he remained standing there for over a minute after she'd gone, his eyes fastened to the floor.

It wasn't the memory itself that was painful. It was the knowledge that she would be dead at Niisan's blade two days later.

Sasuke's fingers tightened in the pillowcase. "Get back," he murmured to the curse, to the memory, to  _him_ , trying to bring anything else to the front of his mind.

Sakura's eyes that day in the forest.

Naruto's annoying voice, shouting exactly what he needed to hear.

Kakashi-sensei's hand on his shoulder, with a silent promise of protection.

_And lately…_

At long last, Sasuke removed the pillow, letting it drop to the floor. Holding up his hand, he found none of the winding black patterns that only moments ago had seared across his skin. His mind felt like his own again.

He took a deep breath, moving the hand to push sweaty bangs off his forehead. His room was too warm. He had to go somewhere else.

Finally he shakily pushed himself into a sitting position and slid out of bed. Then he was out of his room, in the hall, making a conscious effort not to look at the spot where his mother had stood. He didn't want to take the risk that he might see her there.

A rush of cool air enveloped him when he reached the living room, but the moment of relief died almost as soon as it was conjured, because there she was again, looking out from the picture frame, dark eyes watching and weighing.

Sasuke's already feverish pulse quickened even more, and his mind reeled, overwhelmed. He had to get out of here.

Quick footsteps and a slam of the door, and he was outside, the evening air chilling his skin. His eyes didn't lift from the ground before him until he was out of the Uchiha complex, the road giving way to forest.

He just had to get away from that house. Just for a little while, just until he was himself again.

Soon he found himself nearing the entrance to his family's clearing, the place he'd once thought he would never enter again, the place he now sought as a refuge. If he could just be alone here, just breathe, he would be all right--

But he wasn't alone.

She was there again. Right by the entrance, kneeling next to the broken tree, oblivious to his presence.  _What is she doing here?_

His question was answered when she reached under a bush and pulled out one of her forgotten kunai, holstering it securely at her side. She looked ready to get up, but she paused, eying the kunai that still pierced the ground in front of the tree. His family's kunai. After a moment, her hand hesitantly moved toward the handle, but then she drew it back, biting her lip. That expression…he'd seen it before, last night, when he'd caught her with the picture frame. Guilt.

_Guilt…_

And suddenly it made sense. Why she'd lingered outside the clearing for so long the day before and thought he hadn't noticed, why she looked guilty now. She had something to do with that kunai. She was the reason it was there. She hadn't expected him to find it. And now she was kneeling there, the way she had no right to kneel ( _just like_ him _that day, showing how the tree's root was strongest of all, lying, like he'd always lied_ ), and thinking about taking it back.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. She had no right to be here, in his clearing, with his mother's face and his brother's footsteps, reminding him, always reminding him…

Alarms went off in his mind the moment he felt the black heat at his neck again, but sheer strength of will forced them into silence. He was done chaining the power that so desperately wanted to come forth. He was through allowing her to keep raising his ghosts with every step she took, every word she said. This time, the curls of darkness wrapping around his body were embraced, welcomed with every fiber of his being.

He hadn't put a stop to it before. This time, nothing could hold him back.

-

The moment she stood up, Tenten found herself face-to-face with Sasuke.

Sasuke, whose skin was swathed in tendrils of black. Sasuke, whose eyes smoldered with a fury she hadn't thought human eyes could contain.

Instinctively she took a step back, her eyes widening, her breath catching. "…Sasuke--"

"Stop it."

The darkness in his voice made her flinch, and she swallowed hard, her hand moving toward her kunai holster of its own accord. "…Sasuke…what-"

"Stop…" one of his hands was wrenching her arm away from the holster, the other seizing her by the throat and shoving her into the broken tree before she could even register that he'd moved, "… _doing_  that!" A choked gasp escaped her throat before his grip tightened, cutting off her air completely, bruising fingers feeling like they were burning holes in her skin. As her mind recovered from the shock, sending her hand flying to dig her nails into his wrist, a block of ice formed in the pit of her stomach.  _He isn't going to stop._

Her mind racing, Tenten steeled herself, then used her free hand to push back against Sasuke, using the split-second advantage to land a hard kick to the knee he'd been favoring the day before. As she'd expected, his leg buckled, and he dropped. What she hadn't expected was the iron grip that would force her down with him, stars bursting in front of her eyes when her head hit the ground.

For a moment they struggled, Tenten half-blind and scrabbling, clawing, pulling, anything she could think of, her body panicking from lack of air. But then he was on top of her, pinning one arm to the ground while the other threatened to crush her throat. Her body was starting to shut down; she was out of time.

In an act of desperation, Tenten's hand flew out for a handful of dust to throw in his eyes, but her fingers brushed cold metal instead. Her eyes widened.  _The kunai…_

As the sounds of the forest began to fade beneath the ringing in her ears, Tenten forced her fingers to close around the kunai's handle. As her vision began to blur, Neji's warning flashed through her mind, and her failing eyes fastened on her target. And there it was, right where he'd said it would be, the tiny seal pulsing deep crimson as it pumped the chakra through him. The source.

 _"If you sense_ that _chakra, that source is what you should aim for."_

Tenten's eyes tried to flutter shut, but she forced them open, ignoring the burn. She only had one chance.  _I can't miss._

And with the last ounce of her strength, she wrenched the kunai out of the ground, threw her arm around Sasuke's neck, and drove the blade down.


	7. Risen

_Dusk was approaching._

_Sasuke opened his eyes just as the last rays of sunlight, dyed coral with the late hour, began to ebb in the mid-autumn twilight. A breeze sent an unexpected chill through him, and as if it had flipped a switch, he jerked to full consciousness, a flash of his last memory illuminating in his mind. His stomach gripped._ What did I…?

_A too-quick attempt to sit up resulted in a wince when pain jolted through his left side, his arm nearly buckling under him. As soon as he was sure he wouldn't topple back over - his limbs felt like they were made of lead - he lifted his fingers to gingerly prod the curse seal, the source of the jolt, and was surprised to feel a soft bandage under his fingertips instead._

" _Feeling better?"_

_Sasuke started, his head instinctively turning toward the voice, and at once felt something in him clench and relax at once._

_Tenten was there, awake, alive_ ,  _but with a distant flatness in her eyes. She sat against a nearby stump with an elbow on her knee, while her other hand idly threw a kunai into the center of a target, drew it back with an invisible thread, and threw it again. A second look told him she had created a sizeable notch in the center of the target from striking the same point so many times._

_Covering the bandaged curse seal with his hand, Sasuke chose not to answer, instead allowing himself to be hypnotized by the way the kunai struck the bull's-eye over and over. She didn't ask again._

_Some minutes passed them in silence, but for each measured_ thunk _of the kunai against the wooden target. Sasuke used this time to slowly gather himself, trying in vain to conjure any memory of what he had done. It both frustrated and alarmed him that he could not._

_It wasn't until Tenten abruptly stopped throwing the kunai, making him blink with the surprise of silence, that he really looked at her._

_Her eyes remained on the target, but that wasn't what caught Sasuke's attention. Now that he had his bearings, he could make out the dark bruises ringing her throat, just beginning to come through. Had he done that?_

_The echo of a strangled gasp told him that he must have._

" _Sorry."_

_Sasuke blinked again, thrown. "What?"_

_Finally she looked at him, her face unreadable. "I'm sorry I stabbed you." Stabbed…she'd had to go that far… "I'm not that good with medical stuff, but the gash isn't very deep. It shouldn't take long to heal." Why couldn't he read her anymore? "You were out for a while…"_

" _Why are you here?" he interrupted, a little louder than he'd meant to, anger slowly rising in him. He would have understood any other reaction, but he couldn't take an apology. Not from her._

_The anger faded a bit when she met his gaze, instantly calming him, just like when he had first spoken to her. "Well, I wasn't going to just leave you here."_

" _No..." She looked at him in silence, waiting patiently for him to elaborate on what he meant. Sasuke frowned, conflicted; what_ did _he mean? What was she doing that was bothering him so much?_

 _At length, he could only hope that her strange ability to read people would engage itself. "…Why are you_ still _here?"_

_Tenten took her time, brown eyes lifting in thought while her hand began to slowly twirl the kunai she'd been throwing. A closer look told Sasuke that her wrist was marked as well, with the same pattern of fingerprint-sized bruises. His stomach gave an uncomfortable twist._

" _At the preliminaries for the Chuunin Exam…"_

_Sasuke blinked, his expression opening with confusion. Tenten spoke slowly, keeping her gaze on the sky._

" _When you fought," she specified, "after you copied Lee's move, your chakra did something. And a couple of weeks ago in this clearing, when we met. It did the same thing then. It felt like the same chakra just now." She shifted her position, pulling her knees to her chest and letting the kunai swing freely from her finger. The gaze he was met with left no room for ambiguity. "What is it?"_

_Sasuke's fingers tightened a bit over the bandaged seal, aggravating the wound but doing little more. So that was why she had stayed, even though he'd completely lost control. Even though he'd made a very real attempt to kill her. Instead of wanting to get away from him, she wanted to know why._

_And he couldn't find it in him to deny her that now._

"… _It's…complicated," he muttered after a moment, realizing that he had never actually said out loud what had brought him to this point._

_Tenten didn't waver, regarding him without judgment._

" _Then explain it to me."_

-

**Chapter 7: Risen**

-

_Mission in Lightning Country. Back Tuesday morning._

_If needed, leave a note._

_-K_

Sasuke frowned at the sheet of paper, feeling somehow insulted by the way it fluttered in his general direction. The late autumn winds were coming in. If not for the kunai that held it to Kakashi-sensei's door, the note probably would have been blown to the Lightning Country with him by now.

Sighing quietly, Sasuke took the pencil that Kakashi-sensei had tacked up above the note, underscored by an arrow, and scrawled out a quick note of his own:  _Need to talk. -S_

On a whim, he added a small, hasty version of his clan symbol next to his initial, though he was sure Kakashi-sensei recognized his handwriting by now. Then he returned the pencil to its place and stepped back, crossing his arms. There was little more he could do now.

Well, at least he hadn't made a liar out of himself. He'd told Tenten the night before that he would tell Kakashi-sensei about what happened - what had been happening - and he had every intention of following through. He didn't like to admit it, but he couldn't do this on his own anymore. That, and somehow it felt like the only way he could…what? Make up for nearly killing her for no reason? Take responsibility?

Or maybe he just didn't like the taste of guilt…

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned to find that Sakura had appeared at his side, her face flushed from the wind. Her eyes brightened when he met them. "I didn't expect to see you…is Kakashi-sensei gone already?" she asked, peering at the message over his shoulder. "He said he'd be leaving early, I guess…"

Sasuke kept quiet, his eyebrows flinching downward a bit at the bounce in her step.  It had been a while since he had seen her in a good mood that wasn't a front.

"Leave a note," he suggested finally, turning to leave, but she grabbed his hand before he could take a step.

"Wait-Sasuke-kun…" He paused. When he looked back, she closed herself up a little, letting go and shyly lowering her eyes. "…I just wanted to thank you."

 _Thank you?_  "For what?"

"Er…well, for this." For the first time he noticed she'd been holding a monster of a book this whole time, which she now lifted for him to see.  _Advanced Chakra Techniques & Applications, Volume 1._

When he lifted his eyes again, still nonplussed, she pulled the book back, holding it to her chest while she went on. "Kakashi-sensei stopped by my house last night and gave me this. He said it was to make up for him not being as available for the next couple of months…" She caught his eye, and her voice softened. "He said you were the one who brought it up."

Sasuke broke the gaze and shoved his hands in his pockets, but did give a small, confirming nod. She seemed to blossom in response, a genuine smile replacing the shy, hopeful one she usually plastered on for him. She smiled at him the way Tenten did. "I wasn't going to say anything to him about it before, because you were all working so hard, especially with your…" Sasuke sent her a sharp glance at the same time she hesitated, leaving a tense silence to fill in the blank. "…I didn't want to be a burden."

" _So I just stayed out of the way…"_

"It  _isn't_  that difficult," he snapped back before even registering that he was annoyed, and Sakura flinched, startled. Taking a breath, Sasuke backpedaled to explain. "Trying to improve isn't the same as being a burden. It's the other way around. You would be a burden if you didn't care." He eyed the message he'd left for Kakashi-sensei, somehow seeing it as proof that he practiced what he preached. "It isn't hard to understand."

"…You're right," Sakura said after a moment, her eyes sparkling as though he had just proposed. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke only shrugged, fisting his hands deeper into his pockets; it was getting cold enough that it wasn't worth staying outside longer than he had to.

"Um…" Sasuke paused mid-step, glancing back again, and the image he was met with was both familiar and foreboding. Sakura was blushing in earnest this time, no doubt encouraged by his almost-compliment, and her smile shrank back into its usual shy little curve. "Maybe…if you don't have anything to do today…" Here it came. "We could do a little one-on-one training later, and…"

One-on-one training. The magic words that managed to repel him no matter what his mood. As usual, Sasuke took it as a cue to tune Sakura out. Sometimes it was easier to just let her talk. In fact, it felt like everyone wanted to  _talk_  lately. Sakura wanted to talk about 'one-on-one training,' Kakashi-sensei wanted to talk about the curse seal, Tenten wanted to…well. He had gotten himself into that one.

Sasuke wasn't a fan of talking. He liked  _doing_ , taking action, not talking about it. But the conversation he'd had with Tenten had needed to happen.

And he was starting to think that he had needed it as much as she had.

-

" _It's a curse. I can't always…" Who was he kidding? Frowning, he averted his eyes. "I can't control it."_

" _A curse?" she repeated, and he nodded._

_It wasn't hard to jog her memory. She had been there that morning in the Forest of Death, when the curse seal had gripped him for the first time. She had seen what he had done - who he had broken - under its control._

" _It reacts to chakra.  And...other things," he went on. "That's why I haven't been using the Sharingan. I…" He knew he had to tell Kakashi-sensei. This had gone too far. But after today…to look Kakashi-sensei in the eye and explain that he'd been lying to his face for this long felt like an impossibility. He'd already been pushed over the edge once today, and he had a feeling that that might just kill him. "…Tomorrow I'm going to tell Kakashi-sensei." Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow was better._

_He saw her look up from the corner of his eye. "Then what about before? With the Kouryuu Rasen, I mean." It was getting harder to look at her. "You were acting a little weird before you used the Sharingan."_

" _I didn't use it," he pointed out in his own defense, but she regarded him with a skeptical eye._

" _You know what I mean."_

_He did know, and he also knew the answer to her question. But he had allowed that answer to be his own burden for so long that he didn't know if he was ready to let any part of it become hers. He didn't know if he had the strength for that._

_It was pride alone, his instinctive revulsion at the idea of lacking the strength for anything, that drove him forward. He had never worked so hard at the first two words of a sentence in his life._

"… _My brother used to do that technique." Saying the word 'brother' wouldn't make_ him _appear, he reminded himself when his voice tried to choke. He swallowed so hard that it hurt, took a deep breath. "I'd never seen anyone else perfect it."_

 _Tenten's expression smoothed a bit, but she hesitated, as if unsure how she was meant to respond. At once it hit him: of course_   _she didn't know. Why would she? He forgot sometimes that while his generation knew bits and pieces about the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, very few of them were as familiar with the details as he was._

_It took another push of effort, but he managed to make his voice work again._

" _He was the one who did it."_

_A heartbeat's hesitation, and her eyes widened. He didn't need to say any more._

-

Well, this looked familiar.

Tenten couldn't suppress a smirk at the sight before her, in spite of a valiant attempt to stay focused. Not a week ago, she had been performing this very same bo staff technique, and Sasuke had shot her a similarly exasperated scowl. She spun the staff out of Neji's range and went in for three rapid strikes, all of which were expertly blocked by chakra-quickened hands. She didn't let him move to the offensive, though. She was seeing how long she could keep him on his toes today.

Noticing her grin, Neji frowned at her between blocks. "What?"

Quickly Tenten shook her head, trying and failing again to wipe the amusement from her face. "Nothing."

Before he could press for a better answer, she darted forward and used her staff to vault over his head at the last second, then turned and aimed a quick strike between his shoulderblades. Neji had to whirl around blind to block it, nearly losing his balance, but making up for it with a sharp twist of his hand that sent a spike of chakra straight through the wood, slicing it in two.

The force of the strike knocked Tenten back a few steps, now with a splintered stake of wood in each hand. Her eyebrows shot up. "That was different," she remarked, simultaneously annoyed and impressed.

Neji didn't wait for her to recover, instead taking the offensive with a satisfied smirk. "You aren't the only one who's been putting in extra hours."

Thinking fast, Tenten altered her grip on the two halves of her staff and threw them up just in time to block him, then planted her feet and pushed back, forcing them into a brief deadlock. She could feel beads of sweat forming at her brow - in terms of physical strength, Neji had the advantage, but she had never let that stop her before.

"Which reminds me," Neji said after a second, at which point Tenten swung one of the stakes out of the stalemate and put him back on the defensive, "we have a mission this week."

"What?--" Tenten faltered for only a moment, but a moment was all Neji needed to duck in close and pin her wrists to the target post. Quite suddenly he was much closer to her than she'd been ready for, stealing her breath for a second.

"Match," he quietly declared, glancing at her hands and back. Taking the hint, she sighed and dropped both halves to the ground. Neji didn't move right away, though, instead taking a moment to scrutinize her. "You're surprised."

"Well, no, I guess not." Tenten said after blinking a few times. "We just haven't had one for a while. Gai-sensei's been so busy with Lee."

Finally Neji released her and stepped back, nodding his agreement. "It won't be difficult," he went on while Tenten rubbed her wrist. "C-rank. We're to escort a group of carpenters from a village near the border of Earth Country."

"Carpenters, huh?" Tenten bent to deactivate her summoning scroll, then went to work rolling it up. "Are they well-known or something?"

Neji shook his head. "Just paranoid. They're coming to help rebuild on the west side, but they're still afraid of being targeted by the ones who destroyed it in the first place."

Straightening, Tenten packed up her scroll, then leaned back against the target post he'd pinned her to. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow night. Seven. If we travel through the night, we'll arrive by sunup."

"So assuming we'll be slower with them and their supplies, we'll be back by Thursday," Tenten finished half to herself with a slow nod. "And we're leaving at seven…meeting at the usual place?" Neji nodded again, and Tenten flashed him a teasing grin. "All right. It's a date."

As soon as she'd received the roll of the eyes that she'd been counting on, Tenten pushed away from the target post and headed past him. "See you tomorrow--" she began, but Neji's hand caught her shoulder before she could pass, stopping her. Silently he coaxed her to face him, and she frowned. "What?"

After a beat, his fingers left her shoulder and came to rest lightly against the side of her neck. The bit of pressure aggravated the sore, dark spots there, marking where Sasuke had grabbed her. Tenten's breath caught. Neji lifted his eyes back to hers, watching her very closely.

"What happened?"

"Oh…um…" Tenten absently raised her fingers to the bruises, letting them linger there until he moved his hand, which she replaced with her own. "It's nothing. Just an accident."

Tenten knew she'd failed when Neji's eyes moved to her equally bruised wrist, on full display now that she'd stupidly lifted her arm, and back. His eyebrows lowered, and she sank a little inside.

"You're lying."

Tenten winced almost visibly. He didn't look as angry as he did thrown off, and for good reason. She never lied to him.

"…Look, I'm training double-time now," she blurted when the silence grew too thick, taking a step back toward the exit. "I'm going to get banged up now and then. It's nothing, just…forget it, okay?"

Neji's frown deepened. "You're protecting someone."

"Will you stop that?" Tenten sighed, crossing her arms. "Stop dissecting me, Neji, you know it isn't fair. That's reserved for opponents, remember?"

"I never said that."

"Well…" Finally she shook her head. She never had been good at arguing with him. "I have to go. I haven't been to see Lee yet today. Visiting hours are over soon."

When he didn't argue, Tenten turned around to leave, shifting her arms so that she was loosely holding her elbows. Something had gripped in the pit of her stomach, and she wasn't sure why.

It seemed like she was feeling that way a lot lately.

-

 _She knew she shouldn't be feeling guilty. She had never met Sasuke's brother before; she didn't even know what he looked like. There was no way she could have known that she was affecting Sasuke just by_ being _there._

_But even knowing that, it still made her stomach churn._

_The silence was stretching. She felt like eternity could pass them, just sitting there without words. The feeling wasn't comforting._

"… _Here," she said finally, picking up the Uchiha kunai, her savior, and holding it out in his direction. His eyes fastened on it, taking on the same shrouded look she had seen before, when he had first discovered it. "I found it after you left that day. I didn't really know what to do with it, so…" Her words tried to trip over each other, and she calmed them with a pause. "It's more yours than anyone else's."_

_He swallowed hard, then silently took it from her, lifting it to examine the blade. Again she found herself wondering what he saw._

" _I don't know what to tell you about the Kouryuu Rasen," she went on, more out of a need to break the silence than anything else. "I just use it to keep in shape for my summoning techniques…at first I just wanted to see if I could do it. I didn't mean anything by it--"_

" _I know." He looked down, lowering the kunai but not letting it go._

_She wasn't sure if she was treading on thin ice, but a connection had suddenly sparked in her mind. "That's it, isn't it? That's why you said you didn't want to learn it."_

_He shook his head. "That isn't what I said."_

" _Well, okay, you said you didn't want me to teach it to you."_

" _My brother taught it to me." Tenten quickly swallowed whatever argument she'd been conjuring, feeling another pang of unwarranted guilt. He still didn't look at her. "I don't need to be taught again. I just never mastered it."_

_Something touched his voice that she hadn't heard before, something between anger and sadness - she couldn't give it a name, but it reminded her of the way she felt whenever she thought of not only her failure against Temari, but the moments she'd wasted pitying herself over it. Not quite regret, but close. Taking a deep breath, she mustered up her courage and went out on a limb._

" _Well, if you want to…" She felt his eyes fasten to her as she stood and stretched, satisfied now that he would be alright on his own. "…Master it, that is. If you want to do that, I could help you. Not teach," she added, the corner of her mouth faintly twitching up, "just help. And if you don't want me to, I won't." She lifted her eyes to the darkling sky, wondering how long they had been here. "It's getting late," she murmured. "I have an early session tomorrow, so…"_

_He looked upset. No…frustrated. Yes, that was it. His brow was furrowed as if he was trying to read a foreign language, and the visible tension in his shoulders betrayed the apparent calm of his sitting position. She paused. "What?"_

_He blinked, as if surprised that she'd noticed, and gave a quick shake of his head. She waited a second more, in case he changed his mind, then bent to pick up a last forgotten kunai and turned toward home._

"… _Sorry."_

_Tenten glanced back at the sound of his voice, and the sight of him, seemingly unable to lift his eyes from the ground, erased any doubt from her mind._

" _I believe you."_

-

It was past noon on Tuesday, and Kakashi-sensei wasn't back.

Sasuke knew he should be used to it by now, but he was still irritated. He was feeling unusually restless today, hardly able to sit still, and had hoped to have been done talking to him by now. So much for that.

Stepping away from the broken tree, Sasuke moved to the center of the Uchiha clearing and panned the area with his eyes, taking in the locations of the eight wooden targets. He knew he had at least eight kunai on him.  _I wonder…_

There was something a little frightening about the way it felt to crouch down in that clearing, knowing what he was about to do. He hadn't even thought about it in half a decade. Until this year, his mind had always attached the thought of this technique to the thought of failing, as well as thoughts of his brother, two subjects that were never welcome, but something was changing.

He was changing.

Slipping the eight necessary kunai between his fingers, Sasuke took a moment to bow his head and take a deep breath, then steeled himself and launched into the air.

He'd almost forgotten it, this feeling of flying and falling at once, the wind whipping against his face as he twisted his body against it. His arms moved of their own accord, the motion crystallized in his body's memory; the kunai slid from his fingers like water. He remembered now why he used to love this feeling.

Another twist and an arch of his back, and Sasuke's feet were on solid ground again, his body crouched so low that his hair brushed the grass. Vaguely he wondered if Tenten's heart beat this fast every time she performed this technique. A more timid voice inside him wondered if his brother's ever had.

It wasn't until his lungs started burning that he realized he'd been holding his breath, and he slowly exhaled, then pushed himself to his feet to examine his work.

He'd improved, even a little more than he'd expected after five years without even an attempt: four bull's-eyes, two on the line, and one just barely there, making seven hits altogether. It was the last kunai that missed; as far as he could remember, it had always been the last kunai.  _I'm still not there yet…_

Sighing quietly, Sasuke took the sight in one more time, then left the center to collect his kunai. He would have to talk to Tenten; his aim had felt off lately, ever since…

Oh, right. Since the other day, when he'd started the morning in her arms and ended the evening with his hand around her throat.

Sasuke shook his head, still quietly cursing his own lack of control. The occasional flashes of what he'd done that night had been eating at him for the past two days, even after she had accepted the apology he'd had to force down so much pride to give her. Even after she'd offered to keep working with him, when she had every reason to cut him off completely.

" _If you want to master it, I could help you."_

The conversation replayed in Sasuke's mind for the hundredth time as he bent to pick up his last kunai, the one that had missed, from where it lay on the ground. On straightening up again, he paused; someone was coming--

He had hardly turned around when there was a flash of white and a blur that slammed into the tree an inch from his head, startling him right off his feet for a second. Sasuke jerked to action, his arm darting up in preparation to defend himself, but a hand clamped around his wrist before he could strike, restraining it in midair and forcing his fingers open. The kunai dropped from his hand. When he finally looked up, for a moment he couldn't register anything but white.

Hyuuga Neji did not look happy.

Sasuke quickly masked any surprise in his expression, though his heart was still racing from the momentary panic. "Interesting way to propose a challenge, Hyuuga."

If Hyuuga heard the taunt, he ignored it. "Why is she lying for you?"

This time Sasuke couldn't catch himself before confusion crept into his expression, but it only remained for a second.  _He's here for Tenten._

Eyes narrowing, he pulled his arm from Hyuuga's grasp and said nothing.

Again Hyuuga didn't care, letting his own arm drop to his side, but he left the other hand against the tree, keeping him uncomfortably close. "What did you do?"

Sasuke gave a disdainful snort and broke the gaze. "I don't see how what I do is your business."

"When you do it to my teammate, you make it my business."

"Right."

That obviously wasn't the desired answer. Sasuke knew the moment Neji started scrutinizing him, using that damned insight that he could employ without even activating his Byakugan. He knew the moment Hyuuga's eyes found the patch of gauze that Tenten had securely fastened over his curse seal. When he finally looked up again, Hyuuga's jaw was set in a warning.

"I don't care how you got that chakra," Hyuuga said finally, "and I don't care that you can't handle it." Sasuke bristled, unsure whether he was more annoyed by the statement's boldness or its truth. "But  _don't_  give her another reason to lie for you."

"Does it bother you that she's lying for me," Sasuke challenged before Hyuuga could take another breath, fighting back on behalf of his wounded pride, "or that she's lying to you?"

Hyuuga drew back a little, insulted, but stood his ground. "It bothers me that she's lying at all," he said. "She isn't the kind of person who lies." At least they agreed on one thing.

"No," Sasuke replied, looking him in the eye. "She's the kind who stays out of your way. Right?"

For the first time, Hyuuga betrayed a glimpse of confusion, but quickly shook it off. "She's the kind who'll forgive you."

_(The way she looked at him, his mother's endless patience in her eyes. "I believe you.")_

Suddenly uncomfortable, Sasuke looked away again. He let his ears tell him when Hyuuga planted his feet, his voice firm. "But she's the only one."

"What are you going to do?" Sasuke asked, all his restlessness from earlier on now transforming into pure stubbornness. "Fight me?"

White eyes narrowed, seeming to look right through him and call a bluff he hadn't even made yet. "If that's what it will take."

Sasuke frowned, the haughty glint fading a bit from his eyes.  _He's serious…_

"Um…"

Sasuke and Hyuuga blinked at the third voice, then turned as one toward the source.

Tenten had paused mid-step beside the broken tree. Her eyes moved slowly between the two of them, as if trying to decide just what she had walked in on. "…Am I interrupting something?"

A beat of silence; then, seeming to realize what this could look like, Hyuuga's eyes widened. "No," he answered for both of them, quickly pushing away from the tree and out of Sasuke's personal space. When Tenten looked to him for confirmation, Sasuke shook his head in agreement, willing his face not to flush.

The spark of amusement in Tenten's face lasted only a second before her eyebrows lowered just a bit, and she exchanged a long, silent look with her teammate. Now it was Sasuke's turn to glance between the two of them, wondering in spite of himself just what he'd missed.

Finally, something in Hyuuga's face closed up, and his voice grew stiff. "Are you packed?"

Tenten nodded slowly. "Seven, right?"

Hyuuga returned the nod, then moved to exit the clearing. "Don't be late." A last warning glance at Sasuke, and he vanished into the brush.

Curious now, Sasuke eyed Tenten as she entered the clearing in earnest, only absently picking up his dropped kunai. "Packed?"

"Yeah," she replied, leaning back against a tree opposite him. "That's why I'm here, actually. I was on my way to your place to let you know I've got a mission with Neji tonight. We'll be gone until Thursday morning - you know, in case you'd planned on training before then, " she added hastily. Then she met his eyes, dismissing the topic altogether. "Did Neji say something to you?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Not really."

She studied him for a moment longer, then shook her head at something he couldn't hear. "…Okay. Well…what about you?" she asked, nodding at the kunai in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke hesitated, lifting the kunai to study his distorted reflection in the metal. "That technique," he answered quietly and at length, moving the kunai so that it flashed the sunlight briefly into his eyes. "It's been a while. The last kunai is off."

He heard Tenten draw breath, then pause, as if unsure whether her advice was wanted. Finally she settled for a small sound of agreement. "It's always the last one. I had that problem, too."

Taking a quiet breath, Sasuke lowered the kunai back to his side. "What did you do?"

She sent him a quizzical look. "Want me to tell you, or show you?"

In response, Sasuke slowly lifted his eyes, then flipped the kunai into the proper grip and sent it whistling into a target just at her side. Almost mechanically, her hand shot out to stop it an inch away from the target and suspend it in the air with her chakra. Just as she had done the night of the thunderstorm, Tenten held the kunai there, then analyzed the angle between the target and the blade. Looking up, she smiled, letting the kunai drop into her hand.

"Good shot."

-

There were eight impacts.

"Damn."

"What?"

Sasuke shook his head, shooting a scowl at his eighth kunai, which had stubbornly lodged itself in the bark of the tree, hardly an inch above the top of its target. A few more tugs on the wire attaching the kunai to his finger were to no avail. "Stuck."

"Well, look at it this way," Tenten tried, examining the kunai from her perch on a higher branch across the clearing. "At least it didn't bounce off this time?"

"Tch." A flare of blue chakra shot through the wire from Sasuke's fingers and moved in the direction of the kunai, presumably to increase the force and pry the kunai loose.

Tenten shot him a triumphant smirk. "Glad I made you use the wires, huh?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but didn't deny it. He'd been unusually cooperative so far, having given her nothing but a lifted eyebrow when she'd insisted that he use kunai with wires attached, not only to save time, but because if he did it right, he wouldn't get tangled up. Not that Tenten was complaining - she supposed it was a nice change of pace - but she didn't doubt that it had something to do with the other day. There wasn't much she could do about that.

As soon as the small flame of his chakra reached the kunai, Sasuke jerked back on the wire, forcing the blade free, and used the chakra to float it back into his hand. Tenten blinked, a little surprised; she had never thought of using wires as a conduit before. She'd have to remember that.

"So," she began while he disentangled the kunai wires, "how did talking to your sensei go?"

"Haven't done it yet," he muttered, frowning at what looked like a particularly unyielding knot. "He was supposed to get back from a mission this morning, but he's late."

Tenten suppressed a laugh. "Gai-sensei makes a speech about the 'evils of tardiness' every week. I think your sensei has something to do with that…" She paused, craning her neck to see how he was faring against the knot. "Do you need help?"

"No."

Tenten sighed to herself. "Okay…"

"He's probably back by now," Sasuke seemed to decide half to himself, finally managing to free one of the seven tangled wires. "I have to check."

Tenten nodded, leaning her head back against the tree trunk. "I should probably be going over the mission itinerary."

She could only assume the silence that followed meant that Sasuke didn't really want to leave this place either.

"Okay," Tenten finally said, deciding that untangling the wires was taking too long, "how about this. We both have places to be, and it looks like the wires are being more trouble than they're worth. So just forget them." One well-placed kunai from her hands, and all eight wires were cut. "You've been using them all afternoon, so one try without them before leaving won't hurt." She then hopped off her branch and joined him in the center of the clearing.

Sasuke eyed her while he discarded the remaining segments of wire. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't break your neck," she said, briefly stretching herself out. "More concentration on your aim will mean less concentration on your landing. Besides, I'll get a better look at your angles if I'm up there with you."

Seeming to find her explanation sound enough - not that she left any room for argument in the first place - Sasuke gave a slow nod, then readied his newly liberated kunai. As soon as he'd done so, Tenten moved behind him. "Ready?" she asked quietly, and he nodded.

As one, they launched into the air.

Gai-sensei had worked with her this way when she had first proposed the technique to him, but it hadn't felt anything like this. Gravity meant nothing now; they defied it. Tenten made sure to give Sasuke enough space that she wouldn't be interfering, but stayed close enough to guide him if she had to. When she placed her hand between his shoulderblades, a silent reminder not to be too hasty, it was as though they became a single shinobi, breathing in unison, moving as one.

Just before Sasuke loosed the last two blades, Tenten quickly moved her fingers to his arm. "Wait," she whispered, and he listened. As soon as the timing was correct, she pulled her hand away, and as if in answer to a secret code, Sasuke immediately let the blades fly.

From the corner of her eye, Tenten could see the last kunai on its ever-uncertain path. It wouldn't be a bull's-eye, but it would hit. She knew it would. _  
_

In one breath, they arched their backs and turned upright once more. It was only then that Tenten noticed that Sasuke's eyes were also on the last kunai, now securely wedged in the target's upper arch for the very first time - which meant he wasn't concentrating on the landing any more than she was. Seeming to make the connection at the same time, both of their eyes widened--

\--Just in time to witness their own spectacular crash-landing in the center of the clearing, startling away half of the birds in the surrounding trees. In a moment of quick thinking, Tenten avoided injury for the both of them by letting her heel slide forward when she hit the ground, skidding her safely onto her back in time to cushion Sasuke's fall. As a result, they were both still in one piece by the time the dust settled - in a tangled, coughing heap, but in one piece.

"…Like I said," Tenten coughed after a second, a laugh bubbling out of her before she could stop it. "More concentration on your aim…" Sasuke only grunted back at her, moving to get up at the same time she did, but she did catch a glimpse of a grudging half-smirk at his lips while they struggled to untangle themselves. Finally she leaned back on her elbows to wait for him to get his footing, trying to catch her breath. "That was better!" she encouraged, still beaming with mirth. "At this rate, you could have it down by the time I get ba--"

But something stopped her then, momentarily confusing her.  _What…?_

It was only when the moment had passed, and he was slowly pulling back, that she realized her mouth had been stopped by Sasuke's.

-

The curse mark pulsed.

It took no more than a half-second after feeling Tenten's breath catch against his lips for Sasuke to jerk to reality, his eyes going wide.

It took no more than another half-second for him to scramble off of her without even bothering to stand up, every curse word in his vocabulary racing through his mind on repeat. He was vaguely aware that his eyes weren't quite returning to their normal size. At the same time, the curdling heat at his neck lingered only a moment before reluctantly fading. However, the receding curse seal did nothing to slow the adrenaline that now churned through his blood, paired with a strange paralysis that he could only see as a mild state of shock.

He didn't know whether he was more panicked about the curse seal, or the fact that he had just kissed a girl for the very first time.

When Tenten pushed herself up, awkwardly clearing her throat, Sasuke didn't look at her. He couldn't. He couldn't handle this now, not so soon after he'd…

…No. He had to see Kakashi-sensei. Now.

He pushed himself to his feet, still unable to look at her. "…Good luck on the mission," he murmured, his eyes fastened to the ground.

There was a hitch in her breath as she swallowed hard, and a soft rustling when she stood as well. He didn't feel her eyes on him; she must have been having the same problem he was. "Thanks," she said quietly. "Good luck with Kakashi-sensei." He only nodded in return, whether she could see it or not.

A flutter of wind against clothing, and he knew she'd taken to the treetops. He was alone.

Then he was out of the clearing, out of the woods, making his way at a brisk walk toward Kakashi-sensei's with his face in his hand and wanting to strangle himself. Things had been going well, and then he'd had to…to do  _that_ , for no reason…

No, that was a lie. He could think of plenty of reasons. But none of them were the right reasons.

She had been doing it again, raising phantoms with every step she took. But this time, it had gone farther. Never before had he allowed himself to mix the past with the present this way, but then there she was, with his brother's technique, doing what his brother had never done. To a question that  _he_  had always answered with a thinly-veiled 'no,' ( _The prick of pain that he had always mistaken for fondness. "Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe another time."_ ) she had said 'yes.' She had given him that, when it had never been given to him before, and it had jarred him to the core.

And when they had seen the last kunai make the target, he had caught a glimpse of pride in her eyes. Pride in him, like the way his father's eyes had looked on the day that had given him hope. ( _"As expected of my son." Five words that meant more than anyone could know._ )

And when they had fallen, her first instinct had been to protect him. When she'd laughed, he had seen his mother in her eyes again, happy and whole, perhaps the only member of his family to boast such a luxury.

He had seen in her everything he wanted back. No one had ever done that to him before, and he'd wanted…

Sasuke dropped his hand and shook his head to himself, glancing up as he neared Kakashi-sensei's place. He didn't know what he wanted anymore.

Growing closer, he found that his sensei's front door was bare, which was a good sign. He was back. Now things could be taken care of. Already Sasuke could feel a bit of the tension seeping out of him with somewhere else to put his focus. He would be able to get the truth of the curse seal off his chest - suddenly confessing didn't feel nearly so impossible - and have some time to put things in perspective.

It wasn't until he was halfway up the stairs to Kakashi-sensei's room that something began to feel a little off. For a second, he swore he could hear hushed voices.  _Strange…he never has company._

Frowning, Sasuke ascended the remaining stair steps, then didn't bother to knock before opening the door. "Kakashi--"

The image he was met with told him that something was very wrong.

He didn't say anything for several moments, panning his eyes around the room and taking in the presence of Gai-sensei, Asuma-sensei, and Kurenai-sensei, each perched in a different corner, their expressions chillingly sober. Then there was Kakashi-sensei himself, lying motionless in bed, his breathing soft and slow.

Swallowing hard, Sasuke looked at each of the conscious jounin in turn, searching for an explanation. They revealed none.

"Why is Kakashi-sensei asleep?" he finally asked, his pulse beginning to pick up. There was no answer. His eyebrows lowered. "Why are jounin gathered here?" he tried again, more insistently. "What happened?"

It was Gai-sensei who finally answered, casually refusing to meet Sasuke's eyes. "Nothing much happened…"

Sasuke hardly had time to think of reacting before quick footsteps behind him made him turn. Even as he did so, another jounin threw himself into the doorway, panic in his breath and electric energy in his limbs. When he spoke, anxiety laced his voice. "Is it true that  _the_  Itachi came back?"

The world stopped spinning.

"And he's after Naruto?"

The room fell away.  _He…Naruto…_

Then he was running, his every thought cast into darkness but for one:  _I have to stop him._  No question of what he would do. No fear of what would be done to him.

How foolish. For a moment, he had forgotten what it was he wanted.

Now he remembered very well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUDDENLY: CANON. (Episode 84, to be exact.)


	8. Entombed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Reference: This chapter weaves in between a few canon scenes/plot points immediately following the events of Episode 84 of the series.

" _Tenten."_

_She turned her head toward Neji's voice, her cheek cushioned by the grass. Her teammate was perched on a branch close by, the same branch he had taken to an hour ago when his watch had begun, low enough to be easily heard, but just high enough that the waxing moon darkened him into a silhouette._

" _You should sleep," he said when their eyes met. "There's still an hour before your watch."_

" _I know," she murmured back, careful not to wake their clients from their travel-weary slumber, and turned her head again to look at the sky. "It's okay, I'm not tired." Vaguely she wondered how long he had been observing her._

_A good portion of the past hour had found her on her back with one knee bent, her hands lifted just over her chest, her eyes turned upward. Now and then the moonlight would flash against one of the wires she'd used to connect ten kunai to ten fingers, or a spark of amber chakra would flare briefly on its path toward the blades as she conducted their silent dances in the air. She was close to achieving a perfect reflection of that which Sasuke had used to free his trapped kunai the day before._

_She was getting better at it. Using chakra to maneuver the weapons had come surprisingly naturally to her. It worked well with her sharp eye as she moved the ten blades into increasingly complex designs, using only the smallest movements of her fingers, like a puppeteer. When a slight pressure settled over her - the telltale sign that she was being observed with Neji's Byakugan, even if he was giving more attention to his watch - Tenten cleverly formed nine of the kunai into an angular target, then sent the tenth flying through the center. He rolled his eyes, and she smiled._

" _You haven't used that method before," he said, keeping his eyes toward their clients, though the Byakugan's pressure remained on her._

_Tenten shook her head in agreement, rather proud of herself. "I just got the idea yesterday." Yesterday, with Sasuke, just before he--_

_Her skin prickling, Tenten quickly forced the thought down. "It's working better than I thought it would," she went on, more than anything to keep her mind off the subject of those last five minutes with him. A curl of weariness tugged at her, and she answered by floating the ten kunai back to her side, slipping her fingers out of the wires and absently tracing her lips. "I don't know why I never thought of it before--"_

" _You're not in the way."_

_Tenten's mouth clamped shut, and she swung a confused frown in Neji's direction. "What?"_

_Neji still didn't look at her directly. He was glowering at something she couldn't see. "You have never been in the way," he said, this time more quietly. "You're being foolish if you think you have."_

" _Um…" Tenten quickly went back over their short conversation in her mind, looking for anything she could have said to bring this on, but found herself at a loss, "…okay." When he said no more, curiosity got the best of her, confusion overtaking the warmth that normally would have spread through her at such an acknowledgement. "Where did that come from?"_

_At length, Neji shook his head. "He said you may be thinking that way."_

" _Who did?"_

_Brief pause. "Uchiha Sasuke."_

_Tenten's expression went slack with surprise. Since when did Neji talk to_ Sasuke _about her? She had never even seen the two of them voluntarily go within ten feet of each other, except--_

_Except yesterday, when she had found them in the clearing, and Neji had been so quick to make his exit._

"… _You_ did _say something to him," she murmured finally. Neji was silent. Tenten pushed herself into a sitting position and turned to look at him in earnest. "What did you say to him, Neji?"_

" _Nothing."_

" _Neji!"_

_He still didn't face her. "He shouldn't give you a reason to cover for him."_

_For the first time since she could remember, at least when just the two of them were involved, Tenten felt a spark of irritation heat her blood. "Look, we're…he's just dealing with some things right now, and he doesn't have a lot of control over them, and…and it's just nothing, okay? Everything's fine."_

" _Fine," he echoed quietly, then finally turned to meet her eyes. "Then explain to me what changed." She met him with a blank expression, and he continued, "Ever since that day in the clearing, you've been acting different."_

_Tenten bristled in spite of herself. "No, I haven't." Had she?_

" _You have." She could make out little more than his outline and the reflection of his eyes, which only added to the feeling that they were talking from a distance that was starting to grow. "You've shown up late more often this month than in the past year. You've overworked yourself to the point of injury. You lie about bruises that normal training would never give you. And you've been doing_ that _,"  - realizing that she was touching her lips again, she quickly pulled her hand away, irritated with herself - "since we left the village." Tenten fastened her eyes to the ground._

" _That isn't a habit of yours," Neji went on, scrutinizing her just like he had when he'd asked about the bruises on her neck, "so the only explanation is that something must have--"_

_Tenten flinched._

_He stopped at almost the same moment, realization flashing through his expression as his Byakugan-enhanced insight told him exactly what he needed to know. Then he slowly broke the gaze, looking wounded for only a second before his face turned to stone, and he turned back to his watch. "I see."_

" _Neji…"_

_He didn't respond, and Tenten realized that she didn't have anything to say._

-

**Chapter 8: Entombed**

-

By the time they stepped through Konoha's gates, Tenten had convinced herself that Neji was never going to speak to her again.

It was an irrational thought, she knew - no doubt a product of a long journey and a sleepless night - but she couldn't get past it. The rest of the return journey that morning had been so abnormally silent that more than one of their clients had asked if they were trying to escape someone's notice. Each time, she had put on a good face and assured them that they were well within the Fire Country's borders, safe from any harm. Neji had kept his eyes forward and said nothing.

The strange part was that he didn't seem angry at her. Not that he had a reason to be, she reminded herself, but unreasonable anger she could deal with. Instead, he was just acting…cold, like the day they had first become teammates. Like they were strangers. The feeling had tugged at her with every step, and deep in the back of her mind, she just couldn't shake the idea that she had betrayed him somehow.

As soon as they had directed their clients to the foreman's office, Tenten dared a glance at her teammate, only to find that he'd turned to leave already. Her heart sank; no, he was definitely never speaking to her agai-

"I'll fill out the mission report, " he said quietly. Tenten came to attention, blinked at him, then finally came to herself and nodded. Satisfied, he moved to take to the rooftops.

"--Neji?" Tenten blurted, a strange panic gripping her stomach, and he stopped again without turning around. She took a breath, then paused, biting her lip, not sure exactly what she was trying to accomplish.

Finally she let the breath out, gripping her elbows. "…I'll…see you for training tomorrow, right?"

He didn't answer right away, and she could almost see the tension that crept into his shoulders. "Of course."

Tenten immediately felt something unwind in her, though the stiff, flat timbre of his voice kept her uncertain. She looked at the ground. "Okay."

Neji lingered there a moment, as if he planned on saying more, but then he seemed to decide against it. In moments he had vanished in the direction of the Hokage's mansion. As soon as he was out of sight, Tenten sighed and pushed her bangs out of her eyes, frustrated. She didn't know what she had expected from him.

Finally she too turned away from the spot and started toward the hospital at a pensive walk. A talk with Lee usually got her in a good mood, and if not, at least managed to distract her for a while. Besides, he would want to hear about the mission, however uneventful it was.

That, she added in the back of her mind, and if she went straight there, she was less likely to run into Sasuke.

That thought alone brought back all of the ridiculous worries that had whirled through her mind all night, chasing sleep away even when she wasn't on watch: Would this change things between her and Sasuke? With her teammates? What was she supposed to say when she saw him? Did this mean he was in love with her? Was she supposed to be in love with  _him_  now?

Was she?

Her steps slowed as she neared the hospital, and her brows furrowed.

She didn't think so. She didn't know, but she didn't think so.

Well. She didn't have to think about it now, she decided, her pace growing resolute again. Lee would be able to tell if she was worried, and the last thing she wanted was to upset him.  _I'll see Sasuke later,_  she reminded herself.  _Then I'll just deal with whatever happens. That's what I'm good at, right?_

Cheered a little by the thought, Tenten strode through the hospital doors, sending her usual greeting to the receptionist and automatically heading toward Lee's room. On the way, she found herself having to dodge and sidestep medic-nins and nurses much more often than usual. At once her blood chilled. Could something have happened while she was gone?  _Lee…_

Her steps quickened of their own accord, carrying her with a purposeful stride in the direction of Lee's hallway. The path had ingrained itself in her memory: just past this hall, then around the corner--

"Oof!"

"Ah!"

Tenten stumbled backward, then darted an arm forward in time to catch the arm of the person she'd run into before they could hit the ground. "Sorry, I wasn't looking…" she began automatically, then blinked when she recognized who it was. "Sakura?"

The surprise in Sakura's eyes shifted into recognition. "Tenten…"

Relaxing, Tenten let go of the younger girl's arm and offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Here," she said, bending to pick up a few things Sakura had dropped, among them a thick textbook and what looked like some strips of cloth. "What are you doing here?" she asked, piling Sakura's things neatly before straightening. "If you're here for Lee, I promise you'll make his day."

But Sakura was shaking her head. Looking more closely, Tenten found that the poor girl looked like she hadn't slept in days. Nodding her thanks for the help, Sakura took the pile back.

"I'm here for Sasuke-kun."

Something in Tenten slowed to a stop. "…Sasuke?"

Sakura nodded. For the first time Tenten noticed that she had seen the bits of cloth in her arms before: they were shreds of the arm bands that Sasuke always wore. There must have been a noticeable change in her expression, because Sakura glanced from her face to the strips and back. "His wrist is broken," she explained at length, swallowing. "They had to cut these off. I'm just getting them out of the way. I…wanted to do something to help."

Tenten's mind felt frozen to numbness. "But…I just saw him the other day, when…" Shaking her head, she swung her gaze back to meet Sakura's. "What happened to him?"

Sakura regarded her in silence for a few moments before shifting the pile higher in her arms and turning back the way she came. "Come with me. I don't know everything about it, but…"

Nodding, Tenten fell into step with her.

Sakura hadn't lied about not knowing much, but even so, Tenten's eyes had widened with shock at what fragments she did have to tell, full of words both familiar and foreign: Uchiha Itachi. Naruto. Akatsuki. A challenge. A failure.

A jutsu that attacked the mind.

Sasuke's mind.

When they reached the room Tenten assumed to be Sasuke's, Sakura hovered at the door, as if both eager and reluctant to enter. "Look, Tenten…I don't really know how close you are with Sasuke-kun, but you should know, he's…different right now." Her lowering eyes said she had experienced the difference firsthand. "He won't respond to anything, except when anyone tries to touch him. Then he…I've never seen Sasuke-kun like that." Tears welled in green eyes, but were quickly swallowed down. "They're letting him have visitors. But he's really different."

Tenten nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy as Sakura's description conjured an image of the way Lee had been not so long ago, curled up and hopeless. She had felt helpless then. She knew how hard it could be. "Thanks, Sakura." She moved to open the door, but paused. "You know, Lee would really love it if you went to see him. He'll have gotten his meds about half an hour ago, so he won't be bouncing off the walls or anything…it could give you something else to think about," she tried, unsure what else she could do for her.

Sakura managed a tired smile. "Maybe I will."

With a last nod to her, Tenten took a deep breath, then slid the door open.

For a moment, her eyes tried to tell her the room was empty. It took a closer look for them to register that the pale, motionless figure in the bed was a living, breathing person. Her heart clenching, Tenten moved toward the bedside chair in silence, then sat down on the end, her knees hardly an inch from the side of the mattress. "Sasuke…" she heard herself murmur.

He looked like the corpse of a stranger. The pallor in his face only served to emphasize the dark bruises that spread across his jaw and the back of his neck. She could just make out the bulk of bandages that seemed to be wound around his torso under his shirt, and there was almost no distinction between the white of the cast on his arm and the white fingers protruding from it.

What frightened her the most, though, were his eyes. They were half-lidded and empty, blind, like painted glass.

Tenten grasped her knees, unsure what she meant to do.

"So you're not talking to anyone, huh?" she finally asked, her voice a half-whisper that mingled tentatively with the overpowering silence. Sasuke didn't move, and Tenten lowered her eyes. "I guess not."

Sighing to herself, Tenten looked him over more closely, feeling something heavy and aching rise in her chest at the sight of the curse seal at his neck, black and dormant against his skin. Without her willing it to, her hand drifted forward to cover it up with the collar of his shirt; somehow, the thought of letting the world see his burden when he was like this brought a sour taste to her mouth. He lay deathly still as she gently tugged on the fabric. When she was satisfied, she let go, and the backs of her fingers just barely brushed against his skin--

At once his entire body jerked as though she'd burned him, startling her with the shock of movement. Cold, almost animalistic fear flashed in his eyes, and he threw his arms around himself, turning away from her to curl up on his side. Tenten quickly brought her hand back, her eyes widening. "Okay. Okay."

At length she sat back in her chair, only able to watch helplessly as he bowed his head, shrinking himself even more, as if he was trying to disappear. The sound of his breathing, now quickened and labored and watery, made something wrench in her. It sounded painful.

"What did he do to you?" she found herself asking softly, asking no one.

The reply was achingly silent.

-

He was lost.

Black and red painted his sight.  _(Black hair, red eyes.)_

He wished he were alone.  _(Red clouds, black sky.)_

His lungs were trapped in vises that occasionally tightened to scare him. Someone said his ribs were broken. He didn't believe them.  _(Black fire, red walls.)_

He wished he were no one.  _(Red steel, black silhouette.)_

Someone told him to wake up  _darkness - too dark, why? Too dark, too quiet, why? Black fear becomes red panic, should run - Father and Mother, protection. Where?_

_Gone…_

"Sasuke?"

He wished they would stop saying his name. He didn't want to be the one with that name anymore.

They spoke in low voices  _screams and dying breaths_  and tried to use soothing words  _BETRAYED_  and looked into his eyes again and again, like they were waiting for him to look back  _never, won't, can't, red moons under black mangekyou, can't again, never again._

_Never again._

He wished they wouldn't touch him. He didn't want to be reminded that he was there.

"We can't prep him for surgery if he won't let us touch him. He'll just hurt himself if we try again."

"All right, I'll put him under. You two, hold him."

They were trying to fix him.  _Fading to a black world. Silent. Alone. Let me stay here._ They didn't know how.  _Ripped away, back again, no, not again. Red pain in his arm, his chest, the vises tightening, don't touch me please don't touch me please Niisan don't kill me - running, running away "Run and run, and cling desperately to life…" - but no, not again, never again._

_Never again._

The sinking sun shone red into unseeing eyes before giving way to black night.

Silence.

-

"A new Hokage?"

Lee nodded, watching with fascination as Tenten showed him her newly-inspired technique, only moving now and then to catch a drip of ice cream with his tongue. "That's what the nurses are saying."

"Hm…I guess it is about time." Tenten's eyes automatically found the Hokage Monument. "It's strange to think of another face up there."

"The rumor is…" Lee began, but he paused, and she turned to cast a curious glance at him. He had carefully moved into a sitting position on the deck with his eyes lowered. When her gaze fell on him, she saw his grip tighten.

"…The rumor is that the new Hokage is a master healer."

Tenten's breath stopped for a moment. "A healer?" she asked tentatively, hope springing to life in her. He looked up and nodded again, wide eyes reflecting the hope, though neither of them dared say it out loud.

Finally turning back to the wires, Tenten sent her twenty kunai soaring through the air with renewed vigor. "I wonder who it is," she murmured.

Lee was quiet for a while after that, as he had been all week. Boundless as his energy could be, the hospital had a sobering effect on him, even when his spirits were high. When she glanced at him, though, she couldn't help but smile at the way his eyes brightened at the twenty-kunai lotus flower she'd formed for him in the sky.

"That's the perfect technique for you, Tenten!" he cheered, quickly finishing off the cone. "I thought you  _hated_ chakra control!"

Tenten briefly looked at the sky in amusement, flashing on Neji making a similar comment. "I think I'm starting to make peace with it." Lee praised her with a thumbs-up, and she giggled. "It's tiring, though," she added, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "I can't do any more than twenty yet."

"I'm sure you'll improve!" Lee said in a voice brimming with confidence. "You have more skill with weapons than anyone - maybe someday you'll even be able to use it with your Soushoryuu technique," he added, his eyes widening.

"You think so?" Tenten's eyebrows lifted as she played with the thought.

Lee nodded, flashing her a smile. "I have no doubt!"

Tenten felt herself beaming at her teammate, strangely tempted to drop everything and hug him for his unwavering faith. More than ever, she prayed that the future Hokage would be able to give him back what she couldn't.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, oblivious to her sentiments. "What does Neji think of the technique? I bet even he's impressed!"

He didn't seem to notice her smile fading until only a hint of it remained. "Neji…well…I haven't exactly used it on him yet."

"Really?" Lee asked, his eyebrows raising in astonishment. "Why not?"

 _Because we've barely talked all week._  "Oh…no reason." She plastered on another smile for him. "I want to make sure I've got it right before trying it in a battle. You know?"

Lee's mouth formed an 'o' of understanding, and Tenten returned her attention to the flashing blades, collapsing the flower into the twenty kunai again and letting them take their own paths. She had been wrong about Neji never speaking to her again, but not quite as wrong as she would have liked. All week, their spars had been quick and to the point, holding none of the playful baiting she was used to. He would defeat her, like he always did, and then he would leave, and she would go home feeling strangely unfulfilled, the sensation only fading after she'd trained another three hours by herself.

He still wasn't acting angry. Just quiet, not unlike he had been just after his battle against Hinata. Though she had a sinking feeling that it had to do with her, she had dared to ask him what was wrong a few times, but each time, she would only receive a stiff, 'Nothing,' in answer. She hadn't felt so shut off from him since their days in the Academy, and she was surprised at just how lonely it was.

"Ah…Tenten…" Blinking back to the present, Tenten turned to face an uncertain Lee. "Is something bothering you?"

She frowned. "Why do you…" But she trailed off, following his gaze across the hospital's training field to where her twenty kunai had practically reduced the training post to splinters. "…ask…"

Wisely choosing not to mention the post, Lee grasped his good ankle, looking for all the world like a schoolboy trying to decide whether to correct a teacher. "Well…since you got back, you have been spending a lot more time here. Not to mention the training."

"Training?"

Lee nodded, wide-eyed. "When something is bothering you, you train much more vigorously! Like on that mission to the border, when you threw shuriken at that tree trunk until Neji made you stop so you wouldn't pass out, and Gai-sensei said you were just moody because it was a special time of the mo--"

" _Okay_ , I get it," Tenten interrupted, flushing uncontrollably and deciding she really, really didn't want to know. Come to think of it, as soon as she had been back on her feet after the fight with Temari, she had trained at every given chance, earning her several disapproving looks from the nurses and several new aches and pains to ignore when she trained with Neji.

"But that's not it this time," she assured him at length. "Don't worry about it, Lee, it's probably just stress. I've been busy lately."  _And one of my training partners is mad at me, and the other one still won't speak._  Slipping her fingers from the wires, she crossed to him in a step and a half and playfully ruffled his hair. "Okay?"

"I guess…" Lee hesitantly agreed, squinting one eye shut and straightening out his hair with his good hand. Tenten sent him a reassuring smile, then turned to collect her kunai and gauge whether an apology to the groundskeeper was in order for the training post she'd all but destroyed.

But before she could take a step, she was cut off by a loud  _pop_  and a burst of smoke and leaves just inches away that made her jump back with an embarrassingly girlish squeak, arms shooting up to block an attack.

Her rapid pulse calmed, though, when Lee let out a joyful sound behind her and scrambled for his crutch, then shot to his feet. "Sensei!"

"Hello, my exuberant students!"

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal a familiar shock of green and a pose that made her seriously consider taking a bottle of bleach to her eyes. Tenten shot him a scowl, clutching her chest from the scare. "You could have just come through the gate," she muttered.

"And dampen the youthful surprise in my students' faces? Never!" Gai-sensei declared, planting his hands on his hips and shooting her a grin that nearly blinded her on its own. Tenten sighed. Lee alone she could deal with, but  _both_ of them, without Neji to back her up…

Gai-sensei seemed oblivious to her despair; in fact, he looked positively giddy. "Ah, but enough of that - I've come to share the news of a momentous event!"

"What is it, Gai-sensei?" Lee cried, right on cue, while Tenten only held her elbows and looked up with interest.

If possible, Gai-sensei's grin grew even wider with the pride of one who knows a secret. "The village has just received word that Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-sama have had success in locating a new Hokage. They have begun their return journey just this morning!"

As one, Tenten and Lee caught and held their breath. "And?" Tenten asked, her heart pounding against her ribs. "Who is it?"

Gai-sensei sent her a strangely pleased expression. "Why, you should know better than anyone," he said, and her face went blank. "The new Hokage is none other than the legendary ninja and master healer, Tsunade!"

Tenten's eyes went so wide that they immediately started to water, and her hands slowly dropped to her sides. "Tsu… _the_  Tsunade?" she breathed, and Gai-sensei gave a triumphant nod. " _The_  Tsunade is coming  _here?_ …To be  _Hokage?_ " she pressed, her voice rising in pitch with every word, and he confirmed it once again with a thumbs-up. It was all she could do to hold back a squeal that would put Sakura and Ino to shame. She clamped her mouth shut to keep it back, though otherwise she was positively glowing.

It was only after a few moments had passed that Tenten realized Lee hadn't yet said a word in response. At once it hit her. "That means…"

Lee's eyes were fixed on their sensei, as if unwilling to hope until he heard it in so many words. Looking to Gai-sensei herself, Tenten suddenly got the sense that he had more to say, but that it wasn't for all ears present.

Normally disappointment would have tugged at her, but not this time, because  _Tsunade was coming._  Tsunade, her idol since childhood, was coming, and she was going to make everything right. "Oh - I'll get out of the way," she said finally, catching all of her kunai by the wires and pocketing them in one swift motion. "I have to tell Neji! Does he know? Never mind, I'll tell him anyway - Lee, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Both he and Gai-sensei seemed openly entertained by her excitement, and Lee exchanged the same hopeful expression with her as before, then nodded. With a hasty half-bow to her sensei, Tenten then turned and leapt to the rooftops, practically dancing across them with adrenaline. It didn't matter that things had felt rocky with Neji all week. He couldn't know about this yet, and he was well aware of how important Tsunade was to her.

Finally she found him in a remote section of the training grounds, Byakugan activated. "Neji!" she called, skidding to a stop a few yards behind him and panting from a combination of exertion and excitement. He paused, but didn't turn. "Did you hear?" she asked, energy pumping through her in anticipation of his reaction. " _The_  Tsunade is going to be the Fifth Hokage!"

Hardly two seconds passed, and he spoke only two words, so icily that she instantly sobered:

"Not interested."

Tenten blinked, her exhiliration fading. "Well - this is good, Neji," she tried again. "She's an expert medical ninja. She might be able to make it so Lee can fight again."

"Good," was his only reply.

Tenten's eyebrows furrowed, but she held her tongue, looking him over. It looked like he'd been here a while, the trees chakra-scorched and his clothes stained with dirt and sweat. Maybe he was just tired. "Well…I just thought you'd want to know," she said finally, drawing back a bit.

He at least moved this time, turning to collect what was his, though he still didn't look at her. "Thank you."

Biting her lip, Tenten slowly drew back. "I'll…see you tomorrow, I guess." He nodded mutely, and she lowered her eyes, then slowly turned towards home. Once she reached the other side of the training grounds, though, the wealth of targets caught her eye. She then proceeded to summon every weapon in her stores and hurl them into bull's-eyes until her arms went numb.

-

Two weeks passed. Then he spoke again.

Sakura cried. Almost. He only saw the tears well in her eyes - the first time he'd looked into them since it had happened - before she whispered his name and threw her arms around his neck. His body jerked with the instinct to pull away, but his mind was clearing. He bit the impulse down.

His arm didn't hurt anymore. The cast was gone. Sasuke's mind took careful note of those facts, and for a moment he was eight years old again, awakening to white walls and wondering if it had all just been a nightmare.

But the moment passed. He was thirteen, and he had let Itachi do it again.

The swinging of the door interrupted the black weight that had begun to creep through his veins, and a medical ninja strode in. He remembered half-seeing her in ethereal frames of red and black, hearing echoes of her voice giving instructions and asking him questions he couldn't make himself answer. She was always asking questions. Today was no different. "Feeling a little better today, Uchiha-kun?"

Sakura let go of him and obediently left to wait outside the room. He held the doctor's gaze for a moment, but said nothing. She looked pleased nonetheless, and lifted her clipboard to make a note, murmuring, "Prolonged eye-contact, very good…"

She didn't stay long, and he said little. He tensed when she gently prodded his healing wrist and checked his ribs, where dark bruises were still visible, but he forced himself to hold still. She wasn't Itachi. It was a distinction he apparently hadn't been able to make until very recently; he hadn't realized they'd had to hold him down and sedate him for every procedure that required them to touch him. Until the last couple of days, every face had been his brother's, every touch an impending blow.

After the doctor left, Sakura returned to happily update him on the happenings in the village, though he didn't ask for it. He did listen, though. He learned that Naruto and the old man had left again, then returned with a new Hokage. He learned that only one genin had been promoted to Chuunin rank, and that it was not himself. And he learned that the construction on the village would soon be coming to a close.

It felt strange, knowing that life was still happening without him.

Except for Sakura. As she bounced from one topic to another, green eyes sparkling, he noted that those same eyes were underlined with dark circles. The small act of moving to the edge of her chair held a stiffness he hadn't seen before. How much time had she spent sitting there, waiting for him?

Normally it would have made him angry, because he was Uchiha Sasuke and he didn't like people worrying about him. Normally he would have interrupted, told her to leave him alone and go back to her training or whatever it was she did, because normally he wouldn't want her to be held back by any sense of duty to him.

But he said nothing, because the anger never came.

He didn't feel anything at all.

-

Tenten lay sprawled on her back in the middle of the training field, weary eyes fixed on the gathering clouds while the cooling wind bit at her skin, when Neji found her. His shadow slipped over her first, followed by his footsteps coming to a pause next to an unfurled scroll.

"What are you doing?" Stiff, flat, formal. Two weeks now, and it hadn't changed.

Glancing at the sun, Tenten found that the morning had passed quickly, and it was their training time already. She didn't know where the time was going lately. "Warming up," she replied, her voice straining as she sat up, then shifted to a kneeling position to deactivate her weapon summons. "Just taking a break."

Neji frowned at her. "How long have you been here?"

"A while."  _Since I woke up._ She straightened and stretched while white eyes followed her movements, slowly narrowing.

"How long, Tenten?"

She paused, glancing back at him. Even the way he stood was unbending, with feet planted and arms crossed, his expression carefully inscrutable. When he looked at her like that, it was hard not to mirror the coldness he gave off. "I don't know. I haven't exactly been counting," she said, frowning a little, then moved into her starting stance.

"Tenten…"

"Ready when you are."

" _Tenten_."

" _What?_ " Surprise flashed across his face at the bite in her voice, and something tugged in her chest. She tried to ignore it. "What?" she asked again.

It had been a long time since his eyes had been so impossible for her to read. "I didn't come to fight."

All of the anticipatory energy that had been building up in Tenten's body abruptly rushed out of her, and she went very still for a moment before slowly straightening. "…What?" she asked for a third time.

Neji's gaze held steady. "How many hours have you trained this week?"

"Why do you keep asking about that?"

"Because you aren't thinking about it." A note of accusation crept into his voice. "Ever since the mission, you've been going too far."

"No, I haven't." A tendril of anger, paired with an inexplicable murmur of panic, started to rise in her. "Sasuke's still in the hospital, so I can't train with him on the side anymore. I don't want to lose any momentum--"

"You passed out during the last spar."

"I didn't pass out!" Tenten argued, her voice rising with his. "I just got dizzy, and it was because I forgot to eat breakfast that morning--"

"That has nothing to do with it," Neji retorted, his frown deepening. "What you eat doesn't affect your chakra. It was approaching zero." Tenten opened her mouth to argue, but he went on without waiting, white eyes narrowing. "You're letting Uchiha Sasuke affect your judgment--"

"Sasuke?" she interrupted, taken aback. "You think I'm training too hard because of  _Sasuke?_ "

"It  _is_  because of him."

"No, it isn't--"

"You weren't overdoing it until he was attacked, and you just said yourself that you're trying to compensate for him."

"But that doesn't mean--"

"It  _does_. Everything you've been doing has been directly related to--"

"It isn't just him, Neji!" The tendril of anger had moved into her chest and started pumping through her blood. Her fists clenched, shooting pain through overworked muscles. "I hate what happened to him, I  _hate_  it, but it isn't just that! It's Lee, too, and…"  _And you._  "…and this surgery, it could kill him, and if that happened…that  _can't_  happen, and the next Chuunin Exams are getting closer every day, and now you don't even  _want_  me as a training partner anymore, and you think it's all because of  _Sasuke?_  He kisses me  _once_ , and I'm not allowed to care about anything else, is that it?"

Neji visibly stiffened at her bold confirmation of what she was sure he already knew. His arms uncrossed and lowered to his sides. "I don't care what you do," he said, ice darkening his words. "I've said what I came to say."

He turned to leave, and something in Tenten cried out. This wasn't supposed to happen, this was never supposed to happen, not now…

But pride held her limbs and tonge still, and then he'd vanished into the trees, leaving her alone in the middle of the training grounds, feeling like a part of her had vanished with him.

-

" _Come with us. Then, Orochimaru will give you tremendous power."_

That's what they had said. And he believed them. Somehow, it felt like he would have been able to tell if they were lying.

" _Even if you do succeed in getting revenge, the only thing that remains is emptiness."_

When Kakashi-sensei's words mixed with the words of Orochimaru's men, suddenly nothing was simple. Only three days ago had his mind become his own again; he needed things to be simple. Anger was simple. Blame was simple.

Revenge was simple.

Sasuke's fists buried themselves deeper in his pockets, and he chose to focus only on the sound of his footsteps against the road, the chill of the night wind against his face.

" _You must decide."_

He didn't want to decide.

His mind was in too much of a whirlwind for him to notice anything that lay in his path - until he rounded a corner and came face-to-face with someone he had almost forgotten. Both of them came to an abrupt halt, narrowly avoiding a collision, and her face opened with shock.

_Tenten._

"You're up…" she murmured at length, wide brown eyes searching his for something he couldn't place. Sasuke only kept her gaze for a moment before looking away, saying nothing. After a second, she went on. "I didn't know they were letting you go already - I mean, I'm glad," she backpedaled. "You had everyone worried for a while."

Her voice was cautious, almost nervous. He didn't remember her sounding like that before. She was acting like she didn't know where she stood with him.

_(Close enough that he could see his reflection in her eyes. "Good luck on the mission.")_

That's right. The last thing he had done was kiss her.

He said nothing. The memory of the thrill, the panic that had shot through him that day, felt far away, like it had happened to someone else. Now, somehow, such things didn't feel important anymore.

"Um…" She shifted on her feet; he was making her uncomfortable. Once he might have felt something about that. "Are you…I mean…"

"Am I okay?" he asked softly, the growl in his own voice surprising him. He didn't like the sound, low and almost hoarse, much more accusatory than he had intended. Slowly he lifted his eyes, forcing himself to look at her. She didn't look stung, but that feeling of guilt was emanating from her again. He didn't like that either.

"You're right," she mumbled, looking at the ground. "That was a stupid question. Sorry."

"Forget it."

Silence again. He didn't like her being so careful, like the wrong word could shatter him again, just like everyone else had been. Until now, she had been different from other people. She wasn't supposed to change.

Or maybe he was the one who had changed.

Swallowing hard, he averted his eyes again and, with a nod that hardly existed, he made to continue past her. He needed to be alone, away from the hospital with overbearing doctors and frightened nurses, away from his teammates with their challenges and pleas, away from Kakashi-sensei who knew him better than anyone should be able to know him-

"Sasuke--wait." She reached out and caught his wrist, but the moment she did, a flash of his brother's crushing grip made him jerk away so violently that she gasped, taking a step back.

They stood in stunned silence for a moment before both of their gazes lowered. He could feel the guilt in her again, but this time some of it was mirrored in himself. He hadn't meant to do that.

"Sorry," she murmured again. "Just…if you needed to talk - or wanted to, I mean…you can." She seemed to lose faith in her words even as she said them. "That's all. Sorry."

He nodded again without looking at her, and she started moving past him, presumably toward her apartment. His chest tightened; he was starting to hate her apologies.

But Hyuuga hadn't lied about her being the kind of person who forgave. Somehow, Sasuke knew that she would forgive him again if she knew how he'd almost destroyed both of his teammates today. She would forgive him even if it had been her instead of them. She already had once.

And if she could forgive…

Maybe she could understand.

He was turning back before he could stop himself. "Tenten…"

She paused. Dark eyes found him again, hopeful as always, haunting as always. "Yeah?"

For one second, he thought he could do it. He could tell her everything, just let it spill out of him with the force of a dam breaking, let her see the mess that was left of him, ask for her help,  _trust her…_

But then the second had passed. His mind returned to him, and his voice fled.

" _Just forget about those useless bonds."_

No. He couldn't tell her. This was his burden.

At length, his eyes once again turned to the ground. He shook his head.

She didn't move for a long moment, but he refused himself the comfort of meeting her gaze again. He could still feel her eyes on him as she turned toward home. "…Look…take care of yourself, okay?" It was only after he'd quietly nodded that she made any move to leave. And after she was gone, he realized that by keeping his silence, he had made the answer very clear. A strange calm settling over him, he picked up his pace once more. It was decided.

By sunrise, he would be gone.

-

She couldn't sleep. Not with Sasuke's expression imprinted on her mind and the lingering echo of her name on his lips. For a moment, he had wanted to tell her something, and every fiber of her wished that he had. The way he'd looked at her had sent chills through her.

She had never seen him look so lost.

-

He stood alone in his bedroom, moonlight spilling through the window and illuminating flecks of dust that had accumulated during his hospital stay. There was no doubt in his mind that he would not be sleeping here tonight, but for some reason, he had been drawn to the one photo in that room, the one taken with his team just after their first mission.

" _Take care of yourself, okay?"_

" _Don't forget your goal."_

In the photo, he looked at ease. Relaxed, almost smiling - like he belonged there. He couldn't remember what it felt like to be that person.

" _We've found good friends, haven't we?"_

" _Just forget about those useless bonds."_

Forget…

Swallowing hard, Sasuke reached out a hand to rest his fingers on the corner of the frame, taking a long look at the boy who was almost happy.  _Forget._  At the people who he had come to accept as necessary parts of his life.  _Forget._

And finally, with a wrench deep in his core, he understood.

The boy in that photo didn't exist anymore.

His lungs pulled in air, then released it, almost shaking. And silently, he tightened his grip on the frame and lowered it until it lay facedown.  _He doesn't exist._  The words whispered in his mind like a mantra, giving him strength. With every repetition, the thought of walking out the door felt a little less impossible.

Stepping back, Sasuke shifted his pack higher on his shoulders, then took a final scan of the room. It may be the last time he would see it for a long time.

As he did so, a glimmer caught his eye, making him pause. It had come from just behind the fallen picture frame.

Moving back toward the bedside table, Sasuke reached out and picked up the object. He froze.

The Uchiha kunai. He hadn't touched it since the day Tenten had offered it to him. The moonlight caught every groove in the metal, just illuminating his clan symbol on the handle. A knot rose in his throat.

" _Just forget about those useless bonds."_

Suddenly feeling short of breath, he stubbornly swallowed the knot down. He wouldn't need any distractions.

A last look, and Sasuke turned away, kunai in hand. He looked straight ahead as he passed the long-empty bedrooms and study, forcing himself not to look at the picture of his mother on the end table in the living room. He spared only a glance downward when he slipped on his shoes at the door.

As each stride took him farther away from the home he was now abandoning, it became harder and harder not to look back. He wouldn't, though. He couldn't.

Finally he was through the gate of the Uchiha complex and breaking into a silent run. One stop on the way. Then he would leave this place, and the people in it, and the parts of himself that refused to let go, behind.

 _He doesn't exist,_  he reminded himself when doubt curdled in the pit of his stomach.

In good time, he reached his first destination. The woods were eerily silent; he had them to himself this time. His footsteps crunched loudly to his ears as he approached his point of departure.

He hadn't noticed before that the broken tree was damaged. Burnt. One of the three trunks had taken the brunt of whatever had done it, but the other two carried faint scorch-marks as well. It hadn't looked like that before.  _("Each trunk takes its own path…")_

Stiffening, Sasuke banished his brother's voice away. That wasn't why he was here.

Finally he knelt down and pulled out the half-rusted kunai, turning it over in his hands, taking in every inch for maybe the last time.

_No. Not 'maybe.'_

That thought came through firm and clear. Setting his jaw, Sasuke raised the kunai to eye-level, pointing it downward, then drove it into the ground. Just as he had found it.

_He doesn't exist._

The last bond had been severed.

-

When Tenten got to the hospital the next morning, the news had already spread. A tearful Sakura was the last to see him, bathed in moonlight, packed and ready to disappear beyond the village gates.

By sunrise, he was gone.


	9. Resonance

_At first, he'd been terrified._

_He hadn't shown it in front of his new allies - something in him refused to let him use the term 'comrades' - but after he'd taken the mind drug from them, against every instinct in his body, and they had locked him in this dark chamber, he'd really been afraid. It was the darkness that had done it. Darkness was not supposed to feel like a tangible thing, brushing across his skin, seeping into him with every breath. Poisoning him._

_The thought had crossed his mind that if this was really the path he was born to follow, it shouldn't be making him feel like this._

_He had felt it from the first step he'd taken outside the village gates, a strange uneasiness in his core that had made his heartbeat shudder. Pride had made him force it back under the Sound Four's eyes, but as soon as he was alone, the dark slithering into his body with every passing moment, the feeling had made him tremble all the way to his fingertips._

_It wasn't that he was completely surprised. In a matter of hours, he had abandoned the village that had always been his home, joined the servants of one of the people he feared most, followed them, taken that strange drug from them, and entrusted his body, his_ life _, to them._

 _And for all that, he had felt just like he had after Itachi had broken him, wandering between worlds, unsure anymore what was real, but certain that his insides were going to twist themselves to nothing and his body was going to shatter. He had sworn he would never let it happen again; now he had_ made _it happen again._

_When the darkness had thickened to the point of suffocation, panicking him, his mind had automatically tried to calm him by conjuring the images that had once reassured him, though this time they had only made it harder to breathe: Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto. And…yes, he'd realized, now Tenten was there too. But they hadn't comforted him._

_Sakura had told him she loved him. Kakashi-sensei had tried to protect him. Naruto had stayed at his side, called him 'friend.' And Tenten…he didn't know what she had become to him. But he couldn't let thoughts of her, thoughts of any of them, save him anymore._

_He couldn't, because when he thought of them, all he wanted to do was go home._

_The darkness had chosen that moment to jolt through his body again, so sharply and suddenly that he had gasped and curled into himself, his fingers digging arcs around the curse seal at his neck. Bursts of white had splashed in front of his eyes, which were only moist because the jolt had made them water (not because it had felt like he was being torn apart, not because there had finally been no one to see him, not because he was scared and had known it was too late to turn back), and the faces of those he'd left behind had blurred and dimmed until there was nothing left but whispered voices and crimson eyes._

_That's right, he'd remembered. There was a reason he was here._

_Finally the darkness had let go of him, and he had slumped down, gasping for breath, his consciousness in tatters. Broken images had flashed through his mind like blowing leaves, never lingering long enough for him to give them a name. His head had bowed, and weak fingers had dug into his hair. He'd hated being so lost,_ hated _it, he'd wanted to be anywhere but here._

_But then he had felt the power._

_As suddenly as his eyes had squeezed shut before, they had now opened wide. In a drugged reverie he had let his hands fall away, his breath catching in his throat._

_He had never felt anything like this before._

_The power had rushed through him, strength flooding his veins and coursing through his limbs, making his heart pound. Suddenly every breath had brought him to life, shooting heat through him, transforming him, scorching him a new skin. The small, frightened boy had faded away until he was only a shadow, an echo. Even the burning at his neck had no longer been anything more than a small annoyance, an afterthought lost in the glow._

_It couldn't hurt him, not really. Not anymore._

_It hadn't hurt when he'd sat up in the small chamber, half-reeling. He'd started trembling again, but it wasn't because of nerves; the fire blazing through him was too brilliant for his body to contain. The creeping darkness had curled around him and held him close, no longer the cruel grip but a protective, possessive embrace that had only lifted him higher until he'd felt like a god._

_This was true power. This was what he had sought. This was what he had seen in Itachi's eyes every day of his life._ I think I understand you a little more now, Brother.

_He knew now that he had been foolish to allow himself to be afraid, no matter how justified it may have been. The darkness that cradled him now was not an enemy; it was power. And truly great power would always instill fear. He just hadn't understood._

_But he did now. For the first time, everything was clear. He could do anything. He was invincible._

_So he closed his eyes, and breathed the darkness in._

-

**Chapter 9: Resonance**

-

Within an hour of waking up that morning, Tenten had known something was wrong. And like so many things in her life lately, it had started with that kunai.

She hadn't really thought about it in the last few weeks, occupied as she had been with watching her life spin out of control. Lee's surgery, and Sasuke's silence, and Neji - she quickly shut down that train of thought - had all kept her mind far away from the little rusted kunai she had presented to Sasuke not so long ago.

But she did remember giving it to him. Which was why when she saw it there on her shortcut to the hospital, dew-beaded and glinting in the morning sun, exactly where she had put it when she'd first found it, an alarm had immediately gone off in her mind.

Next had come the whispers. As soon as she had set foot out of the exercise grounds and onto Konoha's main road, she had heard them in almost every conversation she passed. His name was on everyone's lips, making the village in its entirety sound like a nest of troubled snakes to her ears.

When she had finally stopped and asked what was going on, she had gotten the real story.

So he was gone. No - he had  _left_. Of his own volition, with complete knowledge of what he was doing. She knew the attack by his brother had changed him, and she'd felt the tension coming from him when they'd talked the night before, but she'd never thought he would actually…

Tenten paused at the hospital's main doors, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.  _Not now,_  she told herself. Now wasn't the time to think about what she could have said or done to stop him; with the week she'd been having, she had a feeling that anything more would put her over the edge. She was here to see Lee, and she refused to upset him by showing her apprehension. Not when she had sat for hours the night before while he was in surgery, and rejoiced right along with Gai-sensei when it was announced as a success.

So she wouldn't think about after the surgery, when she'd run into Sasuke in the street, and she wouldn't think about the sight of Neji turning and walking away from her. Even if she only pretended she didn't have any problems, Lee had a knack for making her believe it herself. This could still be a good day.

Trying on a smile, Tenten reopened her eyes and strode through the doors.

She had hardly taken a step inside when a green blur shot in her direction, and big hands had grabbed her by the shoulders, nearly scaring her out of her skin. " _Tenten!_ "

"Ah! Wha--Gai-sensei?" she said, her voice shrill with surprise, and quickly let go of the kunai her hands had automatically gripped. "What--"

"Tenten, have you seen Lee? Is he with you?" her sensei demanded, practically shaking her.

"--Lee? No, he…" Her mind finally catching up with her, Tenten frowned. "Isn't he here?"

That seemed to be the wrong question to ask, as it provoked a dramatic wail on the part of her sensei, his hands slipping away from her as he slumped to his knees. Tenten searched his expression in vain, bewildered. "Sensei…? What's going on?"

"I'm afraid," Gai-sensei replied at length, grave and weary, "that Lee has vanished."

"Vanished?" Tenten blinked hard, trying to get a grasp on just what was happening here. "But…you mean he's just  _gone_?" Her frown deepened when he nodded. "But his surgery…it was just yesterday, he can barely walk by himself. He can't have gotten far--"

"Alas, he certainly could!" Gai-sensei was suddenly on his feet again, one fist coming up in front of him, clenched with emotion. "When Lee has his heart set upon a goal, he will not rest until he has achieved success! I should have seen it - why, he was so upset this morning about not being included on the retrieval mission, if only--"

"Wait," Tenten interrupted, her head spinning. "Retrieval mission?"

Snapped from his emotional reverie, Gai-sensei paused to look down at her, frowning a bit himself. "You don't know?" She turned her palms up in reply. "I'm surprised Neji didn't tell you himself."

Tenten suppressed a wince. "Neji…well, he's…" She shook her head. "Never mind. Tell me what?"

Gai-sensei took a moment to respond, instead studying her face with eyes that were much more perceptive than anyone gave him credit for. Finally he moved his gaze out the window. "Well," he said, strangely sober, "I suppose you have heard about Uchiha Sasuke's disappearance?" She nodded, swallowing, and he continued. "This morning, Tsunade-sama sent Nara Shikamaru to amass a team, with the objective of catching Sasuke and returning him to Konoha. Unfortunately, doing so may involve the task of dealing with the ones who are leading him." Finally Gai-sensei met her eyes again. "Neji was among the shinobi chosen for this mission."

"Neji…" Tenten bit her lip, unnerved by the solemn tone in his voice and the very real concern in his face. He had worried about Lee before, and herself, but never about Neji. "…And you think Lee went after them?"

"I am positive," he replied. "A young man's heart can never be quelled by idleness when faced with a young woman's tears! Lee has gone to honor young Sakura's request and aid in the battle, reclaiming his place as the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha Village!"

Tenten cringed at the sudden increase in volume. "Gai-sensei--" she said, before his waterfall-proportioned tears could start, "what can I do?"

"Ah, I'm afraid there is little that can be done at this point, though my heart is moved by your youthful initiative!" He shot her a smile that made her see stars for a moment. "I'm afraid all that anyone can do now is wait for our fellow shinobi's triumphant return."

Tenten lowered her eyes, gripping her elbows. "I see."  _All of them are gone…_

Finally she lifted her head. "Well…I'll go to the gate and look out for them. No reason to wait around here." She turned toward the doors. "I'll let you know if I see them." Gai-sensei nodded, and then she was leaving the hospital grounds, leaping across the rooftops in the direction of the village gate. The cool breeze on her face did little to calm her worries.

Halfway to the gate, she stopped on a particularly high roof, just to get her thoughts together. But instead, she found herself looking silently over the expanse of land beyond the gates, cut off by woodlands just before the horizon touched the sky. The wind whipped at her clothes and blew her bangs in and out of her eyes.

"Where are you?" she murmured into the wind.

It no longer mattered to whom she was speaking.

-

It was time.

He broke free in an explosion of light and sound and smoke, letting the sun blind him as he took his first breath in ages. The wind whipped against new skin, and for a moment he just stood there, letting renewed senses fill themselves with the rustling of trees, the smell of grass, the taste of open air, as if for the first time.

Vaguely he could hear a familiar voice - Naruto. So he was here.

But it didn't concern him that Naruto was close by. Not at all. He was just something far away, something trying to pull him back to earth. He didn't matter.

Feeling his body shift, Sasuke slowly lifted his hands in front of his eyes, studying them, marveling at them like someone who had been born without them. A lazy, secret smile crossed his face, and he laughed a little, power-drunk and uncaring who heard him. Even his fingertips were tingling with new strength.

He was reborn.

From somewhere in the distance he could still hear Naruto's voice, angry now, shouting his name. Vaguely he wondered what had happened to bring Naruto to him, while the Sound Four were gone. But as soon as he had the thought, he realized that he didn't care. Perhaps they were dead.

Still grinning to himself, he stepped forward and launched into the trees, reasoning that at least he could move faster without them. He'd had no ties to them to begin with, and he didn't need them anymore.

It was his time now.

-

_Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto._

Those were the ones who had gone after him. Tenten had learned it when she had gone to wait at the village gates and found that she hadn't been the only one with that idea. Sakura, she had expected; Ino, not so much. It was Ino who had informed her about the other members who had been sent after Sasuke, emphasizing more than once that Shikamaru was the one leading them, so there wouldn't be anything to worry about.

Not long after that, Hinata and Aburame Shino, the latter apparently just back from a mission with his father, had joined them. Hinata had looked worried, while Shino…well, she couldn't really tell, but he seemed a little more restless than usual. That, she understood. Tenten wasn't thrilled about waiting instead of fighting either.

Once the remaining two had gotten settled and the conversations trailed away, they had fallen into a charged silence, watching and waiting for their teammates, their friends, the people who had become their second families. Or, for some of them (but looking around, Tenten realized with a tug that it really only applied to herself), their only family.

But all of them were worried, she knew. The way Ino started pacing on and off as the minutes crawled by, the way Hinata instinctively squeezed Shino's hand at a glimpse of distant movement that turned out to just be a bird - the way Shino had let her - and the way Sakura kept almost-unblinking eyes on the horizon, the picture of unebbing hope -they all meant the same thing.

As the minutes continued to stretch, Tenten could see that the worry was making some of them impatient.

"What's taking them so long?" Ino grumbled, her fingers tapping against her arm as she resumed her pacing once again. "It's been almost two hours."

To Tenten's right, Hinata swallowed hard. "I-It could be that they had to stop and fight," she said in her usual half-whisper. Ino turned to face her, and Tenten could almost see her confidence clashing against Hinata's uncertainty. They were getting on edge.

"So what?" Ino snapped, making Hinata flinch. "Shikamaru's lazy, but he's not stupid. If he knows he has to finish something fast, he'll find a way." Hinata lowered her eyes, and Ino turned back toward the horizon, feet planted and arms crossed. "They should be back by now."

"They will come back." Tenten blinked in surprise; she had almost forgotten Sakura was there. When her eyes fell upon her, she found that the younger girl still had not torn her gaze away from the forest's edge. "Naruto promised they would bring Sasuke-kun back. And when he makes a promise, he keeps it. They're going to come back." The quiet conviction in her voice made the others go silent.

Feeling she had little to contribute, Tenten sighed to herself and followed Sakura's gaze back to the horizon. Ino did have a point. This was taking too long.

And on top of that, she couldn't get Gai-sensei's expression out of her head. Never before had she seen him show anything but pride in Neji, so why was he worried now? Did it mean she should be worried, too?

Well, if she was supposed to be, she was failing. Years of believing in Neji no matter what had made it automatic. Even if she wasn't getting along with him right now, she still had as much faith in him as she had ever had; he was Neji, after all. She didn't know if she was capable of not believing in him.

But Lee…

Tenten bit her lip, making another fruitless sweep of the forest's edge. Lee was making her nervous. After the scare with his surgery, for him to run off while his body was still fragile, pushing it when it was trying to heal…every passing moment weighed a little heavier in the pit of her stomach. She didn't voice it like Ino did, and she didn't show it like Hinata, but this whole situation was starting to scare her.

A flash at the side of her vision brought Tenten out of her thoughts, and she turned to find that it had apparently been the light reflecting off Shino's glasses; he must have moved. Looking closer, she could see that his body had tensed, his breathing quieted.

"What is it?" she asked, and the others came to attention, swiveling their gazes in his direction.

He didn't answer right away, but then gave a slow nod into the distance. Tenten turned with the rest of them to follow his gaze, the sunlight making her squint before she could find a hint of what he saw. At her side, Hinata quietly activated her Byakugan; there was a spark of white as her eyes widened. "Oh!"

At the same moment, Tenten found that she could make out several figures leaving the forest, moving toward the village gates. She held her breath and counted: four were walking, but it looked like two more were being carried, unconscious. Six all together. Hope leapt in her chest for a moment, but was immediately replaced by confusion - if there were six, then that meant either Lee or Sasuke wasn't with--

But her train of thought was cut off as the figures came into full view. Sakura gasped from the side, and Shino's grip tightened on the rail, but Tenten could swear her heart stopped.

She couldn't move for a moment, the sight of Temari of the Sand shaking her bones, but the shock of green next to her was what drained the blood from her face: Sabaku no Gaara, with a bruised and motionless Lee draped over his shoulder.

Lee's name whispered out of her, and before she knew what she was doing she was leaping to her feet and rushing forward to--

"Wait!" Ino's hands on her shoulders were the only thing that stopped her, though the younger girl didn't seem as concerned with her as with the approaching shinobi. "Shikamaru's with them."

Forcing herself to look down through the half-blindness of panic, Tenten saw, to her confusion, that Ino was correct. It was Shikamaru who led the Sand shinobi to Konoha's gates with Akamaru carefully cradled in his arms, talking quietly to Temari while Kankuro hefted an unconscious Kiba higher on his shoulder.

As soon as Ino had let go of her, Tenten jumped down with the rest of them to meet the returning shinobi at the gates. "What happened?" Ino demanded as soon as Shikamaru was in hearing range, to which she received a tired frown. He shook his head. Tenten's fingers worked impatiently at her sides, wanting only to get Lee away from Gaara and into a hospital bed.

"No time," Shikamaru muttered, seeming reluctant even to pause, and jerked his head toward Kiba's pale form. "He's lost a lot of blood." Hinata's hands had flown to her mouth at the sight of her teammate, but now Shino stepped forward, a strange tension in his movements.

"I'll take him," he said quietly but firmly, and the air seemed to grow heavy in the moment that Kankuro met his eyes. It was only a moment, though, and then Kankuro was handing Kiba over to Shino, rolling the shoulder he'd been supporting him with.

"I gave him a blood-stopping pill," he informed him, seriousness overtaking the drawl Tenten remembered, while Shikamaru put the dog into Hinata's care. "Should've at least slowed it down." Shino nodded, then turned to Hinata in a silent command, and they took off toward the hospital.

Emboldened by Shino's actions, Tenten stepped forward and interrupted Ino's second attempt at interrogating Shikamaru, her voice coming out clear and strong. "What happened to Lee?"

"He passed out." She had directed the question toward Shikamaru alone, but the voice that answered her gave her a chill, and she had to suppress a flinch before steeling herself and meeting Sabaku no Gaara's gaze. He looked back with the same indifference he had shown the few times she had seen him before, though this time there was a pronounced weariness behind it that she had not seen. "He tried to fight beyond his capabilities," he explained, seeming to read her expression and lowering Lee into his arms, then offering him forward. Tenten took Lee from him at once and brought her teammate close, her fingers just brushing against Gaara's in the exchange. His hands were freezing from lack of chakra. "Other than that, he's fine."

Swallowing hard, Tenten nodded, shifting Lee so that his legs were hooked over one of her arms while the other supported his shoulders. She bravely kept Gaara's gaze. "Thank you."

She had just turned to go when Sakura's voice made her pause. "Shikamaru - what about Sasuke-kun?"

"Yeah," Ino piped up again, "where are Chouji and the others?"  _Neji…_

Shikamaru sighed, lowering his eyes. "I don't know." Then, looking up again, "Do whatever you want, but we're waiting at the hospital." Ino nodded and moved to follow, but Sakura held back.

"I'll stay," she murmured, and Shikamaru shrugged. It was at that point that Tenten turned back around, carefully avoiding the gaze that she'd felt Temari set on her from the moment she'd stepped forward, and broke into a sprint for the hospital, all the while holding Lee close and thanking the stars for every breath he took.

-

"Sasuke…"

Naruto's voice was barely audible, a pathetic murmur nearly lost in the cacophony of the Chidori in Sasuke's hand, and Sasuke carefully concealed a frown. The hopelessness in that sound bothered him. When their eyes met, Sasuke became keenly aware of the thick sorrow that Naruto was emitting, rising around him as surely as that strange red chakra was surrounding him before Sasuke's eyes. He had seen Naruto angry, jubilant, terrified, but this expression was new to him.

Heartbroken. That was how he looked right now.

Swallowing hard, Sasuke used the time he needed to charge his Chidori to study Naruto further, wary of that chakra that was slowly changing his teammate's fingernails to claws. Naruto hung limply in his grasp, as if too overcome by whatever was going on in his head to even function. His emotions ruled him. No shinobi could survive long like that.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, inexplicably angry.

 _Idiot._ Naruto had come this far since they'd met, and he was still a shortsighted idiot. Sasuke knew that Naruto could never understand why he was doing what he was doing, because he hadn't come here to understand. He had come to take Sasuke back. That was all that mattered to him; he was just an idiot who saw what he wanted to see, and he would never get anywhere like that--

_(Her fingers around his wrist, her voice in his ear. "If all you care about is the center of that target, then you won't get any farther than you are now.")_

The memory struck him so suddenly that his eyes widened.  _Where did that come from?_

Tenten's words, even in memory, gave him a shadow of the chill he'd gotten when she'd said them first. It hadn't occurred to him then that her instructions could apply to anything beyond the kunai in his hand. Vaguely he wondered if she had meant to do that, if she had been explaining a way to live that he hadn't been able to grasp. It was only now that her words rang true.

But Naruto wasn't the one she had said them to.

The muscles in his left arm tensed, distracting him; the Chidori was almost ready. And in a moment, he would use it to kill his best friend.

Just like Itachi had told him to.

_("You were given the power of Chidori. That power isn't used against friends or for revenge." One bond is loosened, another one pulled tight.)_

_("Your team really looks out for you, don't they?" Yes. They do.)_

_(Trust in his own knowledge, even if it is the knowledge of a broken mind. "You should know what that power is for.")_

He felt the push of chakra, signaling that the technique was at its full power. The lightning tore at his skin, the chakra tugging on his veins. His body was ready. His chakra was ready.

He didn't move.

Cold sweat mixed with the spray of the water beneath their feet as each memory opened the gates for another, and another, paralyzing him.

 _Do it,_  he told himself, his mind quietly frantic.  _I have to do it. Otherwise…_

But he had hesitated a moment too long.

With a broken, animalistic howl, Naruto jerked in Sasuke's grip, and then one clawed hand had closed around his wrist, and the red chakra burned so white-hot against his skin that he screamed, and the Chidori faded to nothing but air in his hand, and he was being tackled, another set of claws closing around his throat as his chakra gave way and they crashed into the water, and the world was suddenly dark and silent and airless.

He had missed his chance.

And some small part of him was terrified that that was what he had wanted.

-

Hinata and Shino had already settled in the waiting room when Tenten arrived, and Shikamaru and the others arrived just after she had given Lee over to the medics. From there, it became clear that once again, all they could do was wait. It was Shikamaru who saved them from dwelling on their injured comrades too much, giving them a weary play-by-play of what had happened from the time they left.

Tenten absently wrung her hands as his story came to a close, still avoiding Temari's eyes and glancing at the door to Lee's hallway every few seconds. So they'd had to leave Neji behind. He was taking on one of that Orochimaru guy's men alone.

 _He can do it,_  she assured herself.  _It's Neji. He can handle one shinobi._

For some reason, her next breath shook.

Shikamaru moved to the window as soon as he was done, his arms crossed and his mouth in a thin line. He was worried. When Ino moved to stand at his side, silent for once, Tenten lowered her eyes, suddenly very aware that she was the only one in the room without a teammate. She couldn't remember the last time that had made her feel so alone.

But that was okay, she reminded herself, because it couldn't last long. Lee was going to be all right - though she didn't know how far she could trust Gaara's judgment, as she doubted he knew just how newly healed Lee was - and when Neji got back, she would apologize for snapping at him, and the two of them would visit Lee's room just like after his fight with Gaara, and she would lecture him while Neji rested in the visitors' chair (if he was taking this long, then he was probably using too much chakra), and Naruto would bring Sasuke back, and everything would go back to the way it--

"Out of the way!"

Tenten's head snapped up, along with those of everyone else in the room, just in time to see a group of medic-nins rush through the main doors in a burst of sound, shouting instructions to each other and carrying a stretcher between them. She jumped to her feet, her heart suddenly pounding against her ribs, but when she saw who it was, she - along with the rest of the Konoha shinobi in the room - was struck silent.  _Chouji…_

She hardly recognized the skinny, motionless boy on the stretcher as Akimichi Chouji.  _What kind of people are they fighting?_

Shikamaru practically sprinted across the waiting room when he saw, Ino right on his heels, and flagged down the last medic-nin in line. "What happened?" he demanded in a fiercer tone than she had ever heard him use, overlapping with Ino's almost frantic, "What's wrong with him?"

The medic looked between them grimly. "I can't tell you much right now," he said, genuine apology in his voice. "Our first priority was to get him here. Now we're trying to reverse the effects of whatever he took, to slow down his metabolism. But look," he went on, sharp eyes making a quick sweep of the waiting room before returning his attention to Shikamaru, whose Chuunin vest seemed to mark him as the authority figure, "I'm sorry, but everyone here is going to have to stay out of the way. The rest of the squad will be getting here soon with the other one."

At that, Shikamaru's gaze flicked to Tenten and back before he nodded his understanding and obediently got himself and Ino out of the way. Tenten hardly had time to register the statement or the glance before a second group of medics burst into the room, just like the first, another stretcher supported between them. She didn't move right away, her feet staying rooted where they were, as there were too many medics surrounding the stretcher for her to see its occupant.

But when one medic moved, giving her a full view of the lifeless body they carried, Tenten's throat closed.

_That can't be him._

-

He was doubled over in the rain, numbly watching a raindrop roll down a motionless Naruto's cheek, when the sound of a familiar voice turned his blood to ice.

"Sasuke."

 _No._  Sasuke tensed to the point of pain, his shoulder spasming in protest, but he didn't move. Behind him, wet footsteps approached him slowly, without fear.

"Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei's voice repeated, this time from much closer, "you won't be going any farther."

Sasuke's fists curled against the ground, his nails scraping against unyielding rock.  _No_. He couldn't go back, not when he'd gotten this far, not when he'd…he'd even…

He looked desperately at Naruto, but the pale body didn't move.

At the corner of his vision, one of Kakashi-sensei's scouting dogs padded up to Naruto's side and quietly sniffed at his hair. Though Sasuke could feel Kakashi-sensei standing just behind him, his sensei made no move to touch him. Sasuke didn't turn to look at him, his eyes transfixed on the dog, his mind at a hushed standstill.

"Pakkun?" Kakashi-sensei prompted after a moment, and the dog finally looked up.

"He's alive," Pakkun replied, and it was only when air rushed into his lungs that Sasuke realized he'd been holding his breath. "Barely, though."

Behind him, there was a similar release of breath. Then he felt the full pressure of his sensei's gaze, and he swallowed hard. He was running out of options. He could still try to make a break for it - though a quick inventory told him that he didn't have much chakra left, and activating the curse seal wasn't an option. So he could either force the chakra to his feet and try for a last dead sprint, or…

Or he could go back.

The thought struck him so quietly and so abruptly that the rest of his thoughts fell silent.  _Go back…_

His eyes drifted downward again, absently locking on to the unsteady rise and fall of Naruto's chest with each weakening breath.  _Go back._  After all this, could he really go back?

And, a softer voice in him added as Naruto's breath went still for a moment too long - if he  _didn't_  go back, if he kept running, would it really be worth it? All for power…because he--

_(The bloodred eyes once like his own, the sensation of falling forever in a world without air to breathe. "Why are you weak? Because you lack hatred." A whisper that echoed with his family's screams--)_

The curse seal shot fire down his arm with the memory, and he gritted his teeth, one hand flying to his shoulder as he pitched forward. Itachi's voice stayed with him, though, so vividly that he could almost feel his brother's breath on his ear.

No. He couldn't go back.

Kakashi-sensei was moving, bending to - what? Carry him? It didn't matter. He had sensed that the pain was not an act, and his guard was down.

The moment he felt the touch of his sensei's fingertips, Sasuke forced dwindling chakra into his feet with one great push that made his head spin, then launched away with all the speed he could muster, his eyes fixed on his one escape route, adrenaline flooding his veins because he was going to do it, he was going to  _make_  it, he--

Kakashi-sensei's arms appeared from nowhere and locked around his chest.

"--No!" For several moments he struggled against his sensei's grip in a blind panic, kicking, thrashing, fighting as if he were being restrained by Itachi himself, and all the while Kakashi-sensei held him fast and silent, as easily as if he were restraining a small child.

Finally the strength seeped out of Sasuke's limbs, and with a wordless, furious shout, he stopped fighting, out of breath and almost in tears with frustration. That had been his last chance, and he was stopped that easily…he was powerless.

Kakashi-sensei's hold did not loosen. "Are you finished?" came his voice, inches from Sasuke's ear. Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, but there was nothing he could do. Nothing.

Silently, he bowed his head.

"Kakashi," the dog said from behind them, "Naruto doesn't have time for us to wait around."

_To wait…_

And suddenly, Sasuke knew what to do.

As Kakashi-sensei bent to allow his dogs to nudge Naruto onto his back, Sasuke slowly allowed his body to go limp, just as it desired. As he was shifted in his sensei's grip, one arm hooking under his knees and the other supporting his shoulders, Sasuke let his consciousness slip just a little, deliberately giving up the struggle to stay alert. He could almost feel his chakra starting to replenish itself with the much-needed rest.

A last bit of adjusting, and then the wind was whipping at his hair as Kakashi-sensei started to leap through the trees. Taking him back to where he began.

But that was alright. He would wait. He would wait, and he would rest, and he would plan.

And the moment Kakashi-sensei left his side, he would be ready.

-

She was frozen. As if from far away, she heard Hinata gasp, "Neji-niisan…"

No. This couldn't be Neji.

Neji's body could never become that pale, once-fair skin battered and drained to a sickly ashen white. Neji could not lose so completely that his forehead protector would be gone, leaving only the mark of the Caged Bird, the mark he hated and took such pains to hide, bared for all to see. Neji could never…

But then her eyes found the dark stain on the left side of his shirt, saw it continue to spread before her eyes, watched it seep through the once-white stretcher and drip to the floor even as they moved him, realized that she could  _see through_ …

He wasn't breathing.

"Neji…" she heard herself whisper, ice creeping through her veins. Then her limbs were moving, rushing her forward. "Neji!--" But then she was frozen in place again, not of her own will, unable to move even a finger. For a moment she struggled against whatever held her, not caring what it was, her heart pounding in her ears,  _he wasn't breathing…_  "Neji!"

Then the medics had disappeared with him through the swinging doors, and Tenten was being forced to turn around by the mysterious pressure - only to come face-to-face with Shikamaru, who had his hands firmly positioned in the Rat symbol, the signature of his clan techniques. Her eyes widened with shock. "…Let  _g_ o of me, Shikamaru," she warned, her voice trembling against her will.

"No." Sweat was beading on his forehead; he was probably drawing on his last bit of chakra for this. "Calm down."

Fire shot through Tenten's blood and quickened her breath, making the room start to spin. "Let  _go!_ "

"So you can do what?" he challenged back in the same breath, and Tenten felt the backs of her eyes heat with panic and frustration and fear that rushed through her in a rapid crescendo, gripping in her chest to the point of pain, making her next words come out as almost a scream--

"God  _damnit_ , Shikamaru, let  _go_  of me!" From the corner of her eye, she saw Hinata and Ino flinch. She didn't care. "I have to…I  _have_  to…"

But her voice closed then, her body overcome with the stinging realization: he was right. She had no answer for him. Neji was in there…dying, and there was absolutely nothing she could do. She was powerless.

And finally, there under the wary gazes of her allies and once-enemies, she forced herself to swallow the knot in her throat, and lowered her eyes.

"Stop wasting your chakra," she said at length, her voice coming out a hoarse shadow of what it had been. The grip of his jutsu wavered, but held, and he said nothing. Tenten forced her breath to slow. "You're tired. Let go."

She heard him take an unsteady breath, then quietly exhale, and her limbs finally became her own again. At once her body jerked with the unfulfilled desire to fly through the doors after Neji, but she clenched her fists, pushing the urge down with everything else. And in a motion that made her instincts shout in protest, she forced her body to sit back down. She felt seven pairs of eyes follow her, but she met none of them, silently pulling her knees to her chest and fixing her eyes on the floor.

It felt like a long time before anyone in the room dared to break the silence that followed, and even then it was only Temari and Kankuro murmuring to each other. No one else said a word. Tenten felt gazes find her and leave her every few moments, but she couldn't make herself see whose they were. Something had stopped in her. The moment her mind had accepted that she couldn't do anything for Neji, her body seemed to have taken it to mean she could do nothing at all.

After a time, the same medic Shikamaru had spoken to before strode back through the double-doors, making everyone around Tenten stiffen. He seemed to understand the meaning behind the room's sudden silence, and disappointed them with a quick shake of his head. No, he hadn't brought them any news.

Tenten lowered her eyes once more, no longer caring why he was here.

"I'm sorry to ask this," he said, "but we can't spare any of our medics right now. Is there anyone here who can contact the families of these three…" there was a pause as he pulled something out and took a glance at it, "…Akimichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Neji?"

The lump rose back into Tenten's throat at the sound of his name.

There was a moment of silence, during which there were probably a few looks exchanged between teammates. If anyone looked to her, she didn't notice or care. She had backed down on going after Neji, but she would not leave him.

At length, the sound of footsteps signaled that someone was stepping forward. "I can tell Chouji's dad. He lives down the street from me." Ino.

Then, just after her: "I will contact the Inuzukas." Shino. "His sister can be brought in to look at Akamaru." The medic must have nodded.

Brief pause. A few stray gazes made Tenten's skin prickle. Then, finally, tentatively: "Father will want to know about Neji-niisan. I'll tell him."

A quiet exhale of relief came from the medic's direction. "Good. If any family members want to come here, just make sure to remind them to stay in the waiting room." He must have dealt with panicked shinobi parents before. "There are several delicate surgeries taking place right now, and it's very important that there are no distractions." There were some affirmative sounds, and then their footsteps were speeding away as they left to carry out their tasks.

There was a shifting of clothing as the medic turned to leave, but he paused mid-step. Tenten didn't see who he addressed. "…I can take care of that broken finger for you if you want."

It was Shikamaru who responded, and Tenten found it in her to take a glance; she hadn't noticed before that his left index finger was in ugly shape, bruised and swollen to nearly twice its normal size. From his expression, it looked like he'd forgotten about it until now. He hesitated for a moment, casting a dubious glance over the remaining shinobi in the room - only the Sand-nins and herself, now - but then nodded mutely and followed the medic down another hall.

His departure left the room in a tight-strung silence. Several minutes passed without even a glance exchanged from either side, which was fine with Tenten. She didn't have anything to say to them. The silence was only interrupted when three more medics rushed through the room and into the hall where Neji had been taken, making her flinch forward automatically, every bone in her body aching to bolt after them. She had to make a conscious effort to hug her knees tighter and clench her jaw to make herself stay put.

Across the room, Temari made a derisive sound in her throat.

"Don't know what good you think you'd be in there anyway," came her voice a moment after, the voice that had once echoed through nightmares that always ended with a sickening  _crunch_. "You'd be more help if you just went home and stayed out of their way."

" _You have never been in the way. You're being foolish if you think you have."_

Tenten's eyes narrowed, but she didn't respond.

"…Quit being a bitch, Temari." It was the middle brother - Kankuro. Now that the situation was no longer urgent, the halfhearted drawl had returned to his voice. A part of Tenten quietly marveled at the fact that he was almost defending her, but more likely was that he was just bored.

"I'm not!" Temari's voice rang strident in Tenten's ears. "I'm being  _honest_. I wouldn't be hanging around here if it was me." Tenten felt her eyes turn in their direction in spite of herself; the three of them had never looked very close during the Chuunin Exam, but somehow she doubted that statement. Kankuro rolled his eyes, and Temari crossed her arms. "That's why I could never live in this village. Too many lovestruck little girls, like that pink-haired one at the gates--"

"It's not the same." Tenten's voice worked on its own. "Being lovestruck, and what she's doing."   _What I'm doing._  "They're not the same."

For the first time, Tenten and Temari locked eyes. One blonde eyebrow lifted. "Oh, really?" Tenten swallowed, her voice dry from the sudden use after her bout of silence, but managed to unwaveringly hold her stare. That seemed to be answer enough. The eyebrow lowered again, this time in a challenge. "How?"

Tenten opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out, the main doors flew open and brought the room to life with sound and movement, nin-dogs sprinting through to find unoccupied medics, and…

And Kakashi-sensei, with a half-conscious Naruto on his back and an unconscious Sasuke in his arms.

Tenten's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the two battered genin, and she hardly noticed Sakura coming in on Kakashi-sensei's heels.  _Sasuke…_

The medic from before was rushing toward them in seconds, Shikamaru coming in right behind them and quickly getting out of the way. Tenten watched in a stunned silence as the medic carefully took Naruto, while Kakashi-sensei kept Sasuke himself, wordlessly following the medic toward the same doors Neji had been taken through.

As they passed, Tenten got a good look at Sasuke's face. Good enough to catch the way his eyes slid open ever so slightly, just enough to take in his surroundings, before quickly closing again.

Tenten's eyebrows drew together at the sight, and remained that way for several moments after the group had vanished through the double-doors.  _What was that?_  She knew it wasn't uncommon to drift in and out of consciousness when one was injured, but there had been a clear intent in his gaze. A glance around the room told her that no one else seemed to have noticed.

 _Sasuke,_  she thought, gripping her elbows but not sitting down again just yet,  _what are you doing now?_

-

The opportune moment came sooner than he had expected. Only seconds after his back had touched the stiff hospital mattress, a new flurry of voices had come into the room, firing questions about Naruto's condition and the nature of the Chidori's damage. Finally Kakashi-sensei had agreed to go with them and analyze Naruto with the Sharingan, giving a firm order to the nurse that Sasuke was to be put in restraints. Sasuke had needed to check himself to keep his jaw from clenching and betraying his consciousness. Kakashi-sensei never had been easily fooled.

But his sensei had made a mistake. He had left the room before any more medics had arrived to aid the nurse.

The moment the door clicked shut, Sasuke leapt to his feet with newly-regained speed and grabbed the nurse before she could react, clamping a hand over her mouth and sending a burst of chakra to her temple. She instantly went limp in his arms, and he set her down on the mattress, careful not to make a sound. He couldn't have anyone else rushing in here.

He took only a second to catch his breath and take inventory. Though he had regained a little energy on the journey back, he still didn't have much to work with. He would need to get out fast, then conceal himself well until he could travel at full speed. What was the quickest way out, that wouldn't get him spotted…

_(An innocent answer to a dubious question. "Oh, I always cut through here. It's faster to get between the hospital and my place…")_

Perfect.

With a mental nod to Tenten for her unknowing aid, Sasuke stole out the window and toward his family's clearing.

One last time.

-

" _ **Code Alpha, Room 23. Code Alpha, Room 23."**_

Tenten jumped at the sound, as well as Sakura, who had shakily taken Shikamaru's seat after he'd led the Sand shinobi out of the room and down another hall. Both girls looked up, searching in vain for the source of the alarm.

"What is that?" Sakura asked at length, her voice still tremulous with worry for her teammates.

Tenten shook her head, cringing as the alarm continued to repeat. "I don't know. What does Code Alpha mean?"

Sakura's expression immediately turned calculating, her brows furrowing with the extra effort to concentrate over the din. "I think I read it somewhere, but I don't remember…I think…oh!" She turned pale, and Tenten's heart sank. "Code Alpha…it means that someone is missing."

The image of Sasuke's eyes, open and aware when they shouldn't be, flashed through Tenten's mind.  _Oh, no._

Sakura caught her eye desperately, and Tenten knew they were both thinking the same thing.

As one, they both turned and sprinted through the doors and into the hallway, uncaring whether they were authorized. They hardly had to look to find Room 23, as the door was thrown wide open and several medics were rushing in.

No sooner had the two girls reached the doorway than they had to jump back out of the way to allow a group of the medics to carry out an unconscious nurse, a small chakra-burn at her temple.

Beside her, Sakura started trying to break through the commotion and find out what happened, but for her own part, Tenten kept quiet. The nearly frantic conversations between the medics told her enough.

"I checked his chakra levels, they were almost too low for him to function. He can't have gotten far."

"You don't think he could have used that seal on his neck against her, do you?"

"No, that's impossible. He wasn't trying to kill her. He just wanted to get out."

"Did you find Kakashi?"

"No. He went over to help with his other student before, but no one knows where he went."

"Damn it! What does that kid think he's going to prove? He won't even be able to get out of the village again unless he knows a damn good shortcut--"

Suddenly, it clicked in Tenten's mind.  _Shortcut…_

"Oh, God," she heard herself murmur. When Sakura looked up, Tenten was already turning and breaking into a run, back towards the waiting room, toward the main doors.

"Tenten--wait!" Sakura's hand caught her arm and tried to stop her, just like Ino had done that morning, just like Shikamaru had done that afternoon. This time, Tenten immediately jerked from the younger girl's grasp. Sakura flinched, startled, but didn't back down, instead taking advantage of Tenten's brief pause. "What's going on? Do you--"

But Tenten silenced her with a firm grip on her shoulders. "Sakura," she said, new strength in her voice, "get Kakashi-sensei. Gai-sensei, anyone. Send them as fast as you can." Then she was letting go, and turning, and leaving Sakura with five last words before sprinting out the main doors.

"I know where he is."


	10. Possession

_The rain clouds were gathering again, and he was being followed._

_His pursuer, whoever it was, did nothing at all to alert him of their presence; it was instinct alone that told him, but Sasuke didn't need more than that. There was definitely someone coming. And they were coming straight for him._

_Sasuke cursed under his breath, his fingers tightening around his sore shoulder. He hadn't expected to be found out so quickly, and adrenaline wasn't taking him nearly as far as he had hoped. Within seconds of taking to the treetops, a throbbing ache had spread through his entire left arm, from the curse seal to his fingertips, which was only made worse by the cold weight of his rain-drenched clothing. From there, he had quickly become aware of just how much punishment the rest of his body had taken in the past twenty-four hours._

_And now that he really had a reason to run - he shouldn't have hesitated with the first Chidori and wasted the chakra, why had he hesitated? - every leap seemed to take twice as much energy as the last._

_And the pursuer was gaining on him. He could feel it._

_Finally, with a hasty glance at his surroundings, Sasuke abandoned his path and came to land on a thick branch, his back to the tree trunk. Another second, and a kunai was in his hand. This had to be quick. As soon as the shinobi came into sight, he would throw the kunai, and it would hit perfectly - it would, it_ had  _to - and take them down._

_Not kill them, he added silently. There was no reason to kill them. Just stop them, and buy enough time so that he could get past the gates, and then he would…well, he'd…_

_Sasuke scowled at the ground, frustrated with himself. He should have waited longer, planned this better, left when he was sure of every step. Instead, he'd panicked. And now this shinobi knew where he was, and his chakra stores were almost gone, and he had no idea what his next move was supposed to be._

_He wasn't given the chance to dwell on it for long. A barely-audible rustle of leaves and a flash of color from the corner of his eye told him that the moment had come. Sasuke inhaled so sharply that it hurt, and in the same moment he'd corrected his stance, altered his grip, drawn back, and--_

_And in the same moment that he realized that it was_ Tenten _he was about to strike down, a shuriken sliced through the air from above and struck the kunai from his hand._

 _Sasuke's eyes went wide as he realized his mistake, and as if to agree with him, 'Tenten' landed silently - too silently - on another branch, then vanished in a puff of smoke._ A Bunshin…that means--

_He whipped his head forward again, and black eyes met brown._

_There she was, standing directly before him, eyes guarded and arms at her sides. An instinctive flinch set Sasuke's back against the tree, and his heart gave an extra pound against his ribs with the realization that he'd trapped himself._

_For several moments, neither of them moved a muscle. She seemed to be looking for something in his eyes, but Sasuke found he couldn't do the same. He was frozen. Even his breath stopped for a moment, and when it resumed, it sounded far too loud in his ears._

_He couldn't read her intent in her face. That alone put him on edge._

_A distant rumble of thunder, a few stray droplets from the sky, and then she broke the spell with a shallow sigh. Something shifted in her expression, somehow making it soften and harden at once. The corner of her mouth twitched up, though it wasn't quite a smile, and that unnerved him even more._

" _Hey, Sasuke."  
_

_-_

**Chapter 10: Possession**

-

Tenten pulled in her breath when Sasuke met her gaze, edging himself back against the tree trunk like a cornered animal. Desperation had put something wild in his eyes.

She allowed herself to slowly take in the rest of him, noting the position of his feet, the tension in his stance, the shadows around his eyes. His gaze never left her face. When he made no move to answer, she took a deep breath. "I thought I'd find you around here."

Sasuke didn't move, still frozen. "What was the clone for?" he finally asked, and the unforgiving hoarseness in his voice made her swallow hard.

"To find you before you got too far," she replied aloud, coolly holding his gaze. "I heard you've been pretty hard to pin down today."

He answered her with silence again, and she resisted the urge to nervously bite her lip. When she had taken off after him, adrenaline alone had guided her footsteps; she hadn't even considered just what she intended to  _do_ if she found him.

Wordlessly she observed a few more details of his appearance - the way his left arm hung as if it were heavier than his right, and the fresh bruises only now starting to come through from the fight with Naruto, and the state of his clothes, drenched from the passing rain. An unbidden image of the night they'd stumbled into his house from the storm flashed through Tenten's mind, making her ache somehow.

She had prepared herself to treat him like an enemy. But now, seeing him, all she wanted to do was bring him back -  _him_ , Sasuke, the boy who had challenged her techniques, her abilities, her way of seeing the world.

He was in there, somewhere. He had to be.

"Sasuke…" Tenten let some of the careful detachment in her face fall away, earnestly meeting his gaze. "Look, I know…I know that it's been really hard for you since your…" something suddenly told her that mentioning his brother may not be a wise choice, "…since you were attacked. But this…" She sighed. "Let's just go back, okay?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"You getting declared a missing-nin won't fix anything," Tenten went on, her words quickening. "And you're injured. If you go back now, at least--"

"No." She lost his gaze behind his hair, which cast a foreboding shadow over his face. "You're just like the rest of them." Tenten opened her mouth to protest, but he abruptly met her eyes again, interrupting in a stronger voice. "Don't bother, if that's why you're here. It's useless."

Tenten's eyebrows slowly drew together in a frown. For a moment it wasn't Sasuke standing before her, but a younger Neji, cold and bitter and resigned to fate. She had to take a deep breath then, the thought of Neji making her chest tighten. Her eyes focused once again on Sasuke's. "You think I'm just going to let you go?"

"I said, don't bother." Dark eyes glinted, and chapped lips curled into a grim, feverish smirk. "I'm already gone."

A burst of smoke blinded Tenten before she could fully register the words, and it was only when she looked closer that she was able to make out the shape of a rain-dampened log where Sasuke had been.

Cursing through her teeth, Tenten leapt higher into the treetops and immediately spotted the red-and-white Uchiha crest bolting toward the clearing, beyond which it was only a matter of minutes before he would hit the village gates.

She shot after him without a second thought.

As the rain began to pick up once more, cold and sharp against her face, Tenten found herself seized with a determination unlike anything she had felt before. Now that she had seen him with her own eyes, heard the poison in his voice, it was painfully clear that if he made it through those gates again - even if he were caught, brought back by force - he would never really find his way back.

The strength of her reaction to that thought alone made it hard for her to breathe.

" _He won't respond to anything, except when anyone tries to touch him."_

Yes, that's what it was reminding her of. He was acting just like after his brother had attacked him, treating every touch as a threat. The thought made her ache with both sympathy and frustration; that Orochimaru guy couldn't have timed this any better, sending his men while Sasuke was still off-balance, still healing. He'd never had a chance.

And if he felt like everyone was out to get him, then what else would he do but run?

A glance downward told Tenten that she was practically on top of him now, overtaking him from above while he darted across the lower branches. Cold steel was in her hands in her next breath.

She didn't know if she had any chance of getting through to him. If his teammates couldn't do it, there was certainly no reason she would be able to.

But she would try. No matter what, she would try.

-

The scream of steel only gave Sasuke a moment's warning, and he just barely managed to dodge one kunai, then another, and another.  _Damn it--_

He'd known from the beginning that he wouldn't shake her that easily. Tenten was a stubborn girl; she wouldn't stand by if she thought he was wrong. But he'd hoped…he didn't know what he'd hoped for.

Another kunai swiped at his side, coming dangerously close to hitting its mark, and Sasuke forced a little more of his dwindling chakra through his limbs to increase his speed. There was a dull  _thud_  when the kunai lodged itself in the branch he'd just left, and his confidence rose a bit; she was stubborn, but she also cared too much about others. Her aim was better than this - she probably just didn't want to chance hurting him too badly, and she would have to run out of blades eventually. As long as he could use the forest to stay partially concealed, he still had a chance.

But then a strange sound reached his ears. Frowning, Sasuke dared a glance behind him, and his eyes widened at the sight of the same kunai dislodging  _itself_  from the branch, then shooting after him once more, as if it were alive.  _What the…_

Looking around, Sasuke realized that that kunai wasn't the only one. The few kunai she had thrown were whistling through the trees at his sides and his back. A flash to his right, and he quickly changed his direction, narrowly avoiding one of the blades. Another shot out in front of him, and he screeched to a halt before changing his course again - but not before catching the glint of amber chakra in the kunai's wake. A wire…his eyes narrowed.  _So that's how she's doing it._

But there was little he could do with that. The blades weren't slowing, and so neither could he. If she was putting chakra through the wires, a normal blade wouldn't be able to cut them. It was a good technique, but when had she learned it? Not once had she done anything like that when they were training - or had enough control of her chakra to do it, for that matter.

Then again, it had been weeks since the last time they'd sparred. In spite of himself, Sasuke found himself wondering just what else he'd missed since the day Itachi reappeared.

Lowering his eyes, Sasuke silently shook the thought away. It didn't matter. It wouldn't change anything.

A blade hurtled by an inch from his ear then, bringing him back to the matter at hand. Sasuke took a glance upward mid-dodge and just glimpsed her, darting through the trees with dry leaves fluttering in her wake. He found himself frowning again, irritated - what was she  _doing_? Her technique couldn't be easy on her chakra stores, and if she'd wanted to hit him, he knew she could have done it already. Why was she drawing this out?

But then it hit him - all she'd been doing up to this point was forcing him to dodge, and…

And change his course.

His eyes went wide, but it was too late. All at once, the forest gave way to an open area that he knew all too well.

The second his momentum carried him into the Uchiha clearing, he had hardly registered the sound of one kunai striking another before a blade flashed by an inch in front of his face, forcing him to skid to a halt. Then more blades began to fly, weaving through the trees and shooting by inches away from him with no real pattern, trapping him where he stood.

Then, all at once, they stopped.

Suddenly the clearing was cloaked in an unnerving silence, and Sasuke found himself breathing harder than he should while he panned his gaze around the area, unsure what exactly she had done. After a second, though, the rain answered his unspoken question, flashing amber here and there and seeming to stop in mid-air. Sasuke felt his stomach clench.

It was the wires. She had wound them completely around the small clearing, all the way to the tops of the trees, and the amber could only mean that she was still running chakra through the wires. If she was, they would be practically unbreakable.

She had guided him right into her trap.

As if the realization had summoned her, there was a soft gust of air as Tenten dropped to the ground behind him, a little winded for her own part. A shift of clothing told him when she straightened again. After that, she was still.

Of their own accord, the corners of Sasuke's mouth turned up a little, grimly. "Chakra control," he murmured without turning around, almost a question, but not quite.

She gave no indication that she shared the same sense of irony, but quietly confirmed it for him. "Chakra control."

Sasuke swallowed hard, failing to soothe his dry throat, then slowly turned around to face her. No use trying to run. Not only had she executed this trap flawlessly, but the open area made it impossible for him to hide. It was perfect.

"So," he said, meeting her eyes, "what now?"

She didn't answer right away, and Sasuke silently dared her to do what he knew she'd come here to do - try to reason with him, then try to force him, then incapacitate him and take him back. He wasn't blind to his limitations; he'd wasted far too much energy fighting Naruto. If she wanted to take him back, she would do it. But even if she did succeed, she couldn't stop him from trying again.

"Now…" Tenten finally said, her voice quiet and unreadable. "Now, I want to know why."

Sasuke blinked, surprise reaching his face for just a moment, and that seemed to give her hope. "I want to understand it, Sasuke. Why do you have to…" She paused, looking down as if hoping she would find the right words there. "…Why are you doing it this way?" she finally asked. "Why  _him?_ "

For a second, Sasuke could only stare at her without answering, suddenly overwhelmed by a memory of the time he'd first attacked her, when she'd stayed in the clearing and waited for him to wake up, just to ask him why. And now she was doing the same thing, asking him  _why_ , when no one else had. A wisp of guilt from that night murmured at the back of his mind before he viciously beat it back.

Outwardly, he only scowled and looked away.

At his silence, Tenten pushed further. "They're saying that you're going to that Sannin Orochimaru for power, but…that isn't the only reason, is it?" She didn't ask it like someone who knew the answer. Instead there was hope in her voice, hope that he must know better, dismissing power as a superficial reason. Somehow, that made anger start to boil in the bit of his stomach.

She was losing patience with him. " _Sasuke_ \--"

"I explained this."

He couldn't see her face, but she didn't respond, and Sasuke let his eyes slip shut. "He gave me his power of his own will," he said, one hand pulling into a fist. Looking up again, he met her gaze full on. "And I accepted."

This time it was Tenten's eyes that narrowed, for the first time. "What about  _your_  power?" she asked quietly.

Sasuke kept silent. She didn't wait. "You're telling me you'd rather become a criminal, and…and  _leech_  off the person that attacked you and murdered our Hokage, than see how far  _you_  can go?" The honest disbelief in her face made him want to look away; even now, it reminded him of the way his stomach had always crawled when he knew his father was disappointed with him. It took effort to hold her gaze.

Her expression didn't change. " _You_ , Sasuke?" she asked again. "What about--"

"If I stay here," he interrupted, irrationally angry at her for making him think of his father, "this  _is_  as far as I can go."

"You're thirteen!" she snapped back on the same breath, the disbelieving expression morphing into disapproval. "How could you know how far you can go? You've…" She paused a moment, emitting the same frustration that Naruto had vocalized. "You've gotten so much better just since  _I_  met you. How can you think that--"

"It's not good enough!" Fire rushing through his blood, Sasuke shot an arm out in a wide gesture to the village as a whole. " _None_  of this is good enough!"

"Sasuke, you--"

"No!" he interrupted, suddenly overcome with the anger that had been slowly building in him since the moment he had heard Itachi's name. "I'm not like the rest of you. I have a different purpose." Tenten opened her mouth again, but he didn't let her speak. "Orochimaru saw that! He understands that I was born to be an avenger. That is my--"

"--Fate?" Tenten finished for him, her eyes and voice suddenly cold. Sasuke found he couldn't really deny it; she wasn't wrong. Finding that he had nothing to say, she continued. "Fine. But there's nothing that says you can't  _avenge_  your family on your own, with the power  _they_  gave you. You really think they'd want you to sell yourself out to someone like--"

"Shut up!" Sasuke shot back, anger rapidly rising in his chest and making the words come out as a shout. She had no right… _no_  right to even… "You don't know anything about my family. You don't even know what a family  _feels_  like, so don't think you know what it feels like to lose one!"

"I don't!" Tenten barked back, both of her fists clenching. "But I do know what a coward looks like!"

Sasuke's face opened up with shock, but Tenten didn't look away. "The person I met in this clearing isn't a coward. But you, you're…" Such was the depth of her emotion that she bowed her head for a moment to pull in a breath before swinging her gaze back to his again, and for a moment it wasn't Tenten standing before him, but Naruto, gripped by passion about something he didn't understand. "Now you're just being a self-serving coward! Since when would you rather hide behind someone than fight for yourself? Since when do you make excuses about limits and destiny? What kind of person does that?!"

"Save your breath," Sasuke interrupted, feeling a strange combination of pleasure and discomfort at the fact that she was getting so upset. But this was better. Anger he could deal with. "I've heard it all before. You're just like the rest of them." His eyes hardened. "Nothing you say will change my mind. Even if you take me back now, don't think I won't try it again. My purpose is different than yours."

" _Stop_  that!" Tenten snapped, fire in her eyes. "Stop hiding behind this stupid  _fate_  idea! You sound just like--"

But she cut herself off then, and finally she was the one to look away. Interesting.

"Who?" he dared her after a moment, catching her eye. "That Hyuuga bastard?"

Tenten's eyes flashed, and he didn't even see her pull back before she'd closed the distance between them and slammed her fist into his jaw.

-

The punch nearly knocked Sasuke off his feet, and a dull ache immediately began to spread through Tenten's hand, but she didn't care. She felt no satisfaction when the impact made him spit out blood.

"Don't you  _dare_  say  _anything_  about him," she warned in almost a whisper, unable to keep emotion from shaking her voice.  _Not when you're the reason he had to fight that shinobi. Not when they had to bring him back like_ that _, because of you._  "Don't you  _dare_."

Sasuke didn't move for a second, still bent back from the force of the punch, his hair shielding his eyes. Then, in a movement too sudden for her to react, he shot forward and drove his fist into her stomach.

Tenten gasped, doubling over his arm with wide eyes, the air forced out of her lungs. All around them, the wires she'd wound around the clearing flickered with amber as her chakra wavered.

Then Sasuke's voice was against her ear, dark and low. "How long can you hold this technique?"

Tenten gritted her teeth, then stubbornly pushed more of her chakra into the wires, stabilizing them. He didn't need to know that it was painful to keep the wires taut with chakra even for this long.

With a small huff against her ear, Sasuke pulled his arm back and brought his elbow down on the back of her neck in a single motion, sending her sprawling to all fours. Tenten cursed inwardly; he was stronger now. Standing there arguing with him had helped save some of her chakra, but the technique was still depleting it, and all the while he had been regaining his own. And if he weakened her enough, the technique would fail.

And he'd be gone.

Grimacing, Tenten thought fast and swept a leg out, taking Sasuke's feet out from under him and making him hit the ground hard. Then she was shooting forward, grabbing his shoulders and slamming them into the ground, the red anger from before rekindling itself with the realization that she could fail.

"Do you know what happened to those ninjas you were traveling with?" she demanded, thoughts of Neji fueling her words as much as her body. She didn't wait for him to respond, climbing on top of him to keep him down. "They were defeated. All of them. Do you know who killed them?" she pressed through her teeth, forcing his shoulders back to the ground when he tried to lash out again and keeping him there with her forearm across his chest. Shifting her weight to that elbow, she leaned down over her arm, forcing him to look at her by putting their faces inches apart. Dark eyes met darker while their bangs mingled against his forehead.

When Tenten spoke again, her voice came out strikingly quiet. "Eight genin, and one twelve-year-old chuunin."

Sasuke kept silent, but his eyes blazed.

"Those are the ones who promised you power, right?" she went on, sweat beading on her forehead in her effort to keep him down. His body was tensing; his movements were getting more desperate. "People are saying they were cursed, too. Like you. So  _there's_  the extent of that guy's power. They couldn't even stand up to ninjas of the lowest rank--"

"I don't  _care!_ " Sasuke shot back, struggling to no avail. It looked like she'd finally hit on something. All at once, Sasuke seemed to grow stronger with the anger to fuel him, making it far more difficult to hold him there. "I'm - not -  _like_  them!"

A last push, and suddenly Sasuke had managed to flip them over, straddling her waist and getting in a direct punch to her jaw. She barely noticed the blood that trickled from the side of her mouth-she was focused instead on the way he'd hit her. It wasn't the punch of someone whose only objective was to get away; there was fear behind it, too. He'd hit her like someone being told something they didn't want to hear.

Sasuke pulled back to hit her again, but at the last moment she caught his fist with both hands, wincing as the chakra in the wires flickered again. In a move she'd taught herself after being pinned this way one too many times during her spars with Neji, she used his own weight against him to throw him off balance, then turned them halfway over and used both legs to kick him away from her, making him land hard on his back near the broken tree.

In the same moment, she launched forward, nothing in her mind but the task of pinning him down again,  _keeping_  him here. She hardly noticed the way his hand shot out to grab the first thing he could find as she neared him, her mind immediately dismissing the motion.

It was a moment too late that Tenten realized her mistake.

She barely had time to register the flash of light on metal before a sharp pain blossomed in her chest, stopping her in her tracks. All at once her limbs froze, her breath catching in her throat. The fire in her veins turned to ice.

She looked down, and it took an endless second for her to recognize the tiny Uchiha fan on the kunai that was buried to the handle under her ribs.

-

For far too long, Sasuke could only stare at the kunai gripped in his hand, uncomprehending in the sudden stillness. Something cold rushed through his body when something warm rushed over his hand.

He heard Tenten swallow hard, and then he was staring directly into her eyes, only inches away from his. She took a shuddering breath. When she spoke, he could feel her muscles clenching around the blade.

"…Then who are you?"

Trembling limbs gave out, and she dropped hard to her knees, and all around them, the wires surrounding the clearing dulled and drifted to the ground with her. Sasuke automatically moved with her to keep the kunai from going in any deeper, but instead the blade slid out of her with sickening ease, the metal dyed crimson. A choked sound escaped Tenten's throat; then she slumped to the ground, gasping.

Sasuke couldn't move. His mind wouldn't absorb it. The blade quivered as Tenten's blood slid down the handle, obscuring his clan symbol before reaching his fingers, and he realized that he was shaking.

This couldn't have happened. No, this wasn't supposed to happen, he hadn't…his fingers had just closed around it, and…he hadn't meant to actually…

His eyes found her again, and the world seemed to tilt, making his eyes go wide and his lungs suck in air until they burned, as if preparing for a scream that wouldn't escape.

Watching her lying there, her face going pale while blood trickled from her mouth and steadily soaked through her shirt, all he could see was his mother.

And all too suddenly the world snapped back into focus, as if every moment since Itachi's reappearance had been a series of too-bright fever-dreams. He was sitting there with a bloody kunai in his hand while Tenten bled, and now it was clear, and close, and far too real.

And he saw it. Every step, exactly as it had happened before. He'd followed every footstep of the last person he ever wanted to follow.

 _I think I understand you a little more now, Brother_. He had thought that. He had thought that, and gotten  _satisfaction_  from it. And he had been right; but now he really saw  _why_  he'd understood him so well. Every move until this moment had led him right into his brother's shadow.

And all that was left was for the victim to die, and the murderer to disappear. And that had been exactly what he was going to do.

A wave of nausea swept through him with the magnitude of the realization, and he dropped the kunai as if it had burned him, unable to tear his eyes away from Tenten as her body began to tremble, as her pupils dilated to turn brown eyes black. She was dying, and he…

He was just sitting there.

The thought shot electricity through his limbs, and then he was scrambling to Tenten's side, his mind blank. "Tenten…" he said, and his voice shook. Her eyes squeezed shut in a wince, but she didn't respond. Sasuke stifled the urge to shake her. "Tenten!" he tried again. Nothing. For a moment he just knelt there with his hands hovering over her, completely blanking on what he was supposed to do, but knowing with every fiber of his being that he had to do it, because…

Because he wasn't Itachi.

Sasuke let out his breath all at once, his body responding physically to the weight of it. He only absently noticed his eyes had started moistening with the realization that he didn't know how to save her.

But he would try. He wasn't Itachi. He didn't have to be Itachi…he had a choice, he still had a choice. He didn't have to be bound to the words of the man he hated most.

_("You must hate, spite, and survive pathetically. Run and run, and cling desperately to life…")_

_I won't do as you say._

His breath quickened when he saw just how much blood Tenten was losing, and finally he animated, one hand digging desperately into her hip pouch on a vain hope. The panicked tears heating the backs of his eyes were propelled even closer to leaking out by the relief that rushed through him when his fingers closed around a spare roll of bandage. He jerked it out and feverishly unwound it, his jaw setting with renewed resolve.

_("Sasuke-kun will seek me, to seek power.")_

He grimaced.

_Either of you._

His hands were shaking so hard that it took three tries to undo the bottom of her shirt and fold up the soaked fabric, giving him a full view of the merciless gash under her ribs. The wind blew strikingly cold against his face, and he realized that the tears had already fallen.

_I'll surpass you in my own way._

Gasping back hopelessness, he slid one arm under her, ignoring the fire shooting from his shoulder to his fingertips. He lifted her upper body off the ground, wincing when a hoarse, pained sound was torn from her throat. When he straightened on his knees, her head tilted forward to land on his shoulder, her body limp as a rag doll against him.

Her breath caught, freezing his blood, and he lost hope for a moment, bowing his head into the almost-embrace and squeezing his eyes shut. "Stay awake," he whispered against her ear. "You have to stay awake." It was less of a command and more of a plea, with a tremor in his voice that he hated. "You have to."

New strength flooded through him when her fingers curled into the back of his shirt in reply.

Silently, he began to wind the bandage around her.

_And I'll do it with my own power._

She winced when he pulled the bandage tight, and he looked around desperately, almost afraid to let go of her. He'd bought her time, but he had no idea how much, and he didn't know what to do, and if she died he could never forgive himself because she had never done anything to hurt him and he would be a murderer  _just like him_  and--

His name whispered out of her, physically jerking him back to reality and steeling his resolve. There was no time for useless thoughts.

Tightening his grip, Sasuke used his good arm to move hers around his neck, fear pricking in his chest when too-cold fingers touched his skin. "Hold on," he told her, grasping the blackened branch of the broken tree to steady them while his other arm locked around her waist, and he clenched his teeth when his shoulder throbbed in protest. Each shattered breath against his neck reminded him why it was worth it. "We're going back."

She flinched against him. "…We?…" she managed before stifling a cough.

Weakened fingers gripped the branch before he answered, and he was surprised at how easy it was.

"Yeah."

He wasn't sure, but he thought he felt a weak smile in her next breath.

It took everything in him just to stand, holding on to the burnt branch as if it were his life source. His overworked limbs felt like lead, especially with Tenten's added weight, and just that small movement made his vision swim, but it didn't matter. The determination that had guided his every turn up to this point was transformed, reborn: he would do this, because he had to do it. It wasn't a question of whether he could. If it killed him,  _he would save her._

And so, holding Tenten close, Sasuke turned with clear eyes, and took the first step towards home.

-

They moved slowly, one shaky step after another. It was all Tenten could do to cling to Sasuke with arms that were slowly going numb while her vision doubled and blurred. She tried to ease the strain on him in any way she could - he was so tired, beyond tired, she could feel it in every step he took - but there was little she could do.

At one point Sasuke's legs began to buckle under him, and she immediately moved to steady him, reaching down deep for the strength to hold both of them upright. She succeeded. For a second, it had looked like he was going to break down again. But he didn't, and she just managed to keep her balance, and they kept moving, supporting each other with bodies too weak to do anything more.

But Tenten knew it wouldn't last. It wrenched at her, because Sasuke needed her to be okay, and she was good at being what people needed her to be, but this…

This wasn't something she could fight.

And it was sealed for her when the next step filled her mouth with the taste of copper. The world spun, and then her feet weren't on the ground anymore, and Sasuke was speaking to her in that terrified voice again, but she couldn't understand a word, and…

And someone was coming.

Her eyes snapped open, and she tried to tell Sasuke, but the words were lost between her mind and her throat. Everything was dimming. Vaguely she felt Sasuke's hands pressing down over her heart, trying to…what? She couldn't think…

But she felt it again, someone's presence getting closer - why wouldn't her voice work? In a final effort, Tenten drew her hand up and miraculously found Sasuke's wrist, closing her fingers around it. If she got his attention, maybe he would feel it too, and…and then…

Oh. Now she couldn't feel it anymore.

She couldn't feel the presence, or the ground against her back - was she falling? - or the wind against her skin. All she could feel was Sasuke's pulse racing under her fingers, anchoring her to the moment.

And now even that was starting to fade.

Tenten tried once more to say his name, and finally, miraculously, her mouth obeyed. "…Sasuke…" He didn't stop doing whatever he was doing, but she knew he'd heard. It made her sad to look at him; he'd never looked so scared. Why, she wondered…scared for her, of all people. Or was he scared that she wouldn't forgive him this time? She couldn't let him think that…wincing with even the small effort, she gave his wrist a squeeze. "It's okay, Sasuke."  _I forgive you._

Sasuke made a strange, choked sound, and the wind blew, and then she was being carried by it, carried away.  _Neji…Lee…Sasuke…it's okay.  
_

_-_

When Tenten's hand went limp, slowly slipping away from his own, it took everything in Sasuke not to scream.  _This can't be happening. This can't be happening._  Refusing to believe what both eyes and instincts were telling him, he re-formed the hand seal and pushed down on her chest again, trying to force chakra from a body that had no more to give. His consciousness wavering, he formed the seal a third time--

And a third hand shot out of nowhere and covered his own, pressing down with him and unleashing a powerful burst of chakra. Tenten's body jerked, and then…

And then she breathed.

Sasuke's eyes went wide, nearly-forgotten hope rushing through him. Then, finally fully realizing that they weren't alone, he swung his gaze around to the third shinobi.

"Sensei…"

Kakashi-sensei gave no reply, instead fishing a small container out of his kunai pouch and tapping out two deep blue pills that Sasuke didn't recognize. He could only watch in rapt numbness while his sensei gently lifted Tenten's head and eased the pills down her throat. He hardly noticed when two of Kakashi-sensei's biggest nin-dogs came up behind him and held him in place with a massive paw on each of his shoulders.

After a moment, Tenten's breathing seemed to come easier, and just a bit of color returned to her face. Kakashi-sensei moved to check for any other injuries, and Sasuke swallowed hard.

"Take her back," he finally said, his voice nearly gone. His sensei silently met his gaze, but the moment was interrupted when Pakkun leapt down from the trees, immediately followed by Gai-sensei.

"…Take her back," Kakashi-sensei echoed quietly, glancing toward Gai, who had gone pale at the sight of his student's condition. "I'll take care of things here." Gai nodded, draping his Chuunin vest over Tenten before carefully scooping her up and vanishing into the trees.

Sasuke watched them go until he couldn't see them anymore, exhaustion weighing him down. He felt his sensei's eyes on him without looking, and answered him without being asked. "I take responsibility," he said softly. "I'm not…" His voice cracked, and he lowered his eyes. "I won't become like him."

A muted sigh, and then one of the nin-dogs' paws was replaced with the firm grip of Kakashi-sensei's hand. "No. You won't." The grip let up a bit. "You've proven that." Then there was a sharp prick at the back of his neck, and blackness descended fast, enveloping him in unconsciousness.

And finally, finally, he was able to let go.


	11. Exorcism

"… _that we've finally gotten hold of him. If we don't…"_

_His brow furrowed a little, his ears working harder than they should to make out what was being said. For a second he wondered if he was under water. Unconsciousness clung fast to him, disorienting him, making the small movement of opening his eyes seem an impossible task._

"… _see it as their Hokage knowingly putting them in danger, and the last thing we…"_

_He fought off the desire to slip back into unconsciousness, and the sound grew sharper. His senses grudgingly reawakened to cool, still air on his skin and something smooth and stiff under his back._

"… _that sort of instability." A woman's voice, with a tone of authority. Almost familiar…why couldn't he think? Frustration finally prevailed over lethargy, and Sasuke slowly pried his eyes open, squinting against the blinding white of the ceiling._

" _I agree." This voice he knew. He turned his head a little, and Kakashi-sensei blurred into focus, leaning back against the wall to Sasuke's left. "But limiting his chakra permanently, I think, is a bit rash."_

_Limiting his…_

_Sasuke's eyes snapped open when his memory rushed back in staggering clarity, making his limbs go rigid and a dull ache rise in his left arm. When he automatically moved to grip his shoulder, his breath hitched when he realized he couldn't._

" _After all," his sensei went on, either oblivious to Sasuke's sudden panic or ignoring it, "if Orochimaru were to come for him again, it wouldn't be a help to anyone if a limit on his chakra made him unable to defend himself."_

 _He couldn't defend himself_ now. _Sasuke gritted his teeth and painstakingly turned to look at his arm, then froze._

Restraints… _Glancing around, he found similar bonds around his other wrist, his ankles, and even over his abdomen, gleaming with infused chakra and holding him fast to what he now realized was a hospital bed._

_After a moment, Sasuke silently went limp again, his gaze drifting back to the ceiling. There was no reason to fight the restraints. He knew exactly why they were there._

_The woman's voice gave a sigh, and Sasuke dared a look in her direction. Blonde hair and brown eyes…oh, that was it. The new Hokage. She, too, either didn't notice he was awake or disregarded it. "I know," she said, frowning at the floor before returning her gaze to Kakashi-sensei, "and I trust your intuition on him. But we still don't have anything concrete to say that he'd_ try _to defend himself. The only witness we have is still unconscious, and it doesn't help that the reason she's out in the first place is because he stabbed her in the chest with a kunai."_

_Sasuke's heart dropped into his stomach._

" _And that's not even touching the subject of Naruto."_

_Naruto…_

" _You said yourself that Naruto would make a full recovery."_

_His pulse started to beat again, but its rhythm still felt sick and slow._

" _I did," the Hokage agreed, "and he will. But it will still take time, no matter how fast a healer he is. Anyone else in his position would be crippled for life." Sasuke paled. "I would question more of Shikamaru's squad on whether they saw anything, but Akimichi Chouji and Hyuuga Neji only just stabilized, and Inuzuka Kiba won't be awake for a while."_

_Gravity seemed to pull on him harder with every name she said. Tenten, unconscious. Naruto, barely pulling through. And three others, two of them critical. Five lives almost lost._

_And all because of one day of…insanity, that was all he could think to call it. The kind of insanity that could throw lives away for the sake of power. The kind that could throw away an entire_ clan _of lives._

_Sasuke closed his eyes, disgusted with himself._

" _What about the other option you mentioned?" Kakashi-sensei asked, and the Hokage shifted on her feet._

" _That's why it's a problem that Naruto is still unconscious. He's the only one who got a good look at that curse's second level, and I can go by the description to figure out approximately when the transformation started. Even if he did agree to have the second level removed," Sasuke's heart leapt in his chest, his thoughts coming to a hush, "there's no guaranteeing that it isn't too late already--"_

" _Get rid of it."_

 _Sasuke felt both gazes turn and settle on him, and slowly reopened his eyes. He had to swallow before continuing, to keep his dry throat from turning his voice into a croak. "I don't want it."_ I don't want to be bound to any power but my own.

Not anymore.

_The two of them were silent for a long moment before something shifted in the Hokage's face. "How did they trigger the transformation?"_

_Another swallow. "They called it a mind drug." Her eyes sharpened in recognition._

" _When did you take it?"_

"… _A couple hours after sunrise," he said slowly, thinking back to what felt like a dream that refused to fade. "Eight or nine, I think."_

" _You're sure?"_

_He nodded, and some of the tension left her shoulders. "Then there's more time than I'd been banking on, but the procedure should still be done as soon as possible." She eyed him with a strange expression. "And this is what you want."_

_He held her gaze and nodded again._

_The Hokage exchanged an unreadable expression with Kakashi, then gave a slow nod in return. "All right, then." Pulling up a chair, she sat down and pressed two fingers to his wrist, turning her gaze to the clock. "I'll make sure you've recovered enough for the surgery, and we'll get started."_

_Sasuke waited quietly for her to measure his heart rate, holding still while she quickly checked his chakra levels. "Hokage-sama?" he finally asked, and she hummed in response, keeping her eyes on her work. He breathed in deep before posing the one question that had been tugging at his throat from the moment Tenten had been mentioned._

"… _Is she okay?"_

_The almost childish question was so simple and complicated at once that he wasn't surprised to see the Hokage pause to regard him for a moment. Then her mouth curved in a tired half-smile._

" _Yes."  
_

_-_

**Chapter 11: Exorcism**

-

" _You don't know anything about my family - don't think you know what it feels like to lose one!"_

_A tarnished fan._

" _I'm not like the rest of you. I have a different purpose."_

_A flashing blade._

" _I'm already gone."_

_Falling--_

Tenten awoke with a gasp that shot fire through her chest, making her eyes squeeze shut in a wince just as quickly as they had flown open.

"Tenten?"

Her eyebrows lowered; she didn't recognize that voice. A second attempt at opening her eyes was a bit more successful, though it took a moment for her to focus on the figure standing over her.

When she did, once-tired eyes grew wide.

The owner of the voice smiled slightly. "Welcome back."

It took a great deal of effort to find her own voice, and when she did, it barely came out as a whisper.

"Tsunade-hime…"

Her idol lifted a thin eyebrow, amusement kindling in her eyes before she turned to check on Tenten's vitals. "Been a while since I've heard that one," she murmured. "You must be either a fan or a gambler."

"I have a poster of you in my room…"

As soon as it left her mouth, some part of Tenten was vaguely mortified, but her mind was in too much of a daze to dwell on it. Tsunade -  _ **the**_ _Tsunade!_ \- took Tenten's wrist to check her heart rate, giving a good-humored snort. "Flattered." After a moment, she let go and straightened. "How are you feeling?"

Tenten blinked a few times, pulling her gaze away from the wrist her idol had taken. "What?"

Tsunade paused, studying Tenten with steady eyes. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I…" Frowning, Tenten took in her surroundings for the first time, absorbing the steady beep of a heart monitor, the sunlight coming through the window, the sterility permeating the air. The hospital…she didn't remember coming here. In fact, now that she thought about it, she didn't remember anything after the woods…when she'd been there with--

_(Wet leaves under her back, his pulse racing under her fingers. "It's okay, Sasuke.")_

_Sasuke…_

All at once, her lungs constricted in a second painful gasp, her shoulders jerking with the instinct to sit bolt upright. "Sasuke!--"

Tsunade gently held her down with a hand on her shoulder. "Easy."

"But Sasuke, he was…and Neji! What happened to--"

"Sasuke is in recovery right now." Tenten fell silent, and Tsunade went on, "He agreed to have the second level of his curse seal removed, and the procedure was a success, but it took a toll on his body. Hold still." Tenten could only numbly obey while her idol undid the stiff bandages around her middle to examine the surprisingly small gash under her ribs, her mind spinning.

So she hadn't dreamt it. He'd really come back.

"Still no sign of infection," Tsunade murmured, "and your records say you got your tetanus shot last year, which is fortunate." Another moment of studying the wound, and she glanced up. "Any pain?"

"A little," Tenten replied, though her mind was distracted by the process of putting the pieces together again, from the moment she'd gone after Sasuke to her last memory in the forest. They came as dreamlike flashes: the spark of wildness in his eyes when he realized he'd been caught, the terror in his voice when he'd told her to stay awake, the way his arms had shaken as he'd all but carried her towards home.

"Tsunade-sama…" she heard herself say as her idol finished redressing her wound. "…Is Sasuke…I mean…"

She sensed Tsunade's eyes on her, and finally met them. "…He's okay now, right?"

Tsunade eyed her for a long moment, something like amusement returning to her face.

"We'll see," she answered at last. "No one can really know until some time has passed. But if you're asking for my personal opinion?" Tenten nodded, almost holding her breath, and was rewarded with another faint smile, "Then, yes. I think he will be."

Tenten quietly let out her breath, then nodded, lowering her eyes to her hands. "Good."

Looking satisfied, Tsunade straightened. "And you were asking about someone else? Hyuuga, was it?"

Tenten's eyes flew back to Tsunade's. "Yes," she said a little breathlessly, aghast that she had even allowed the topic to stray for this long. "Neji - Hyuuga Neji, do you know anything about him? He's my…my teammate, one of the genin that fought Orochimaru's men, and he was injured very badly…"

She trailed off when she realized Tsunade was nodding in recognition, her expression unreadable. Tenten's insides turned to lead, and she searched the Hokage's face with wide eyes, suddenly afraid of the answer. She swallowed hard. "Please, tell me."

The second that passed before Tsunade answered seemed to last ten lifetimes. "He was one of the most difficult cases," she finally began, and a wave of ice rushed through Tenten's veins at the use of the past tense, a lump already rising in her throat in preparation for--

"But he's going to make a full recovery."

A sharp intake of breath stung Tenten's lungs, her mind playing the words a second time, and a third, the knot in her throat only strengthened by the meaning behind them. "He is?" she breathed through it, feeling something creak back to life in her when her idol nodded.

"He'll be strong enough to have visitors in the next couple of days. If he doesn't follow your other teammate's example and actually stays in bed, I think he may be well in time for the Chuunin Exam at the end of the year."

"Really?" Her eyes began to burn with the surge of relief that washed over her like water, making it hard to breathe but cleansing away the fears that had been weighing her down.

"Mm. Which reminds me," Tsunade went on, her gaze drifting upward in thought, "a certain teammate of yours has given my assistant a few panic attacks by trying to camp out by your door all night. He's out there now, unless you need a minute?"

Tenten finally looked up, pushing down yet another swell of emotion at the mention of Lee. "No, h-he can come in," she managed, images flickering through her mind of the last time she'd seen him, unconscious in the arms of the boy who had nearly destroyed him.

"All right. Press that button to your right if you need anything, and someone will come," Tsunade added in a final instruction, and Tenten nodded, taking a breath in a weak attempt to calm herself.

But when Lee poked his head in, alive and well, his face lighting up at the sight of her, any composure she had regained flew out the window. "Lee…"

"Tenten! You're awake!" he cried, shooting forward to practically tackle her in a hug. "Thank goodness!" An almost hysterical laugh bubbled out of her as she returned the hug with all her strength, the first time she'd laughed in days, though it was punctuated with hot tears that refused to stay back.  _Lee is all right. Neji is all right. Sasuke is…_

When Lee finally pulled back, the joy in his face rapidly transformed into alarm at the sight of tears. "What is it?" he gasped, flinching back as if afraid he was somehow the cause. "Are you in pain? Ah! I'll get Tsunade-sama!--"

"No--Lee…" she interrupted, taking his arm before he could run off. At the back of her mind, it occurred to her that he had never seen her cry before. She managed a tremulous smile for him. "It's all right," she said, and she knew that this time the words were really true.

"Everything is all right."

-

Mercifully, Kakashi-sensei waited until Sasuke was able to sit up on his own again before informing him that he had a visitor.

Sasuke frowned, eyeing the way his sensei was blocking the doorway. "Who is it?" he asked, vaguely wondering if the hoarseness would ever leave his voice.

One silver eyebrow lifted. "Who do you think?"

Their gazes remained locked for a moment, but Sasuke didn't hazard any guesses. The way things had been going so far, he was surprised anyone other than Kakashi-sensei or the Hokage would want to come within ten feet of him, much less go out of their way to talk to him. The Godaime had told him quite plainly that he was going to be treated like a criminal. Technically, he  _was_  a criminal - he understood that well enough. And even if anyone lower than Jounin rank did have the desire to visit him, the meeting would have to be supervised by at least two shinobi of higher rank.

_("You've proven that you can be dangerous." A cool voice, matching the cool hands painting jutsu symbols over his skin. "So no one can afford to take any chances."_

_No attempt to hide that the greatest power he's ever known is being traded in for nothing more than a leash.)_

But it had been his choice. That was what he had silently repeated to himself when she had finished with the symbols, and when her assistant had come in and told her that the seal was ready, and when she had turned to him and asked if  _he_  was ready.

Without the reassuring knowledge that Kakashi-sensei was at his side and wouldn't leave him until the procedure was complete, he doubted he would have been able to manage even a nod.

Looking at his sensei now, as he turned to tell the visitor to come in, Sasuke reminded himself to thank him one day.

_(His heart starting to pound at the sight of the gigantic seal on the ground - an exorcism seal. The Hokage's voice instructing him to go into the center of it, and the sudden inability to make himself obey._

_He can't, because too suddenly he is just a thirteen-year-old who is perfectly capable of being afraid._

" _One moment, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi-sensei. A nod, and he is being pulled aside and quietly reminded that he isn't alone in this, that he is making the right choice, that things will be kept from getting out of hand._

_The words remind him what it is to be strong.)_

"You'll feel like the living dead for a few days," the Hokage had told him when he'd gone into the center of the seal, forming her fingers into the Serpent symbol while irony brought a bitter taste to his mouth, "but after that, you should be back to yourself soon enough."

Then a flick of her hands had eased him into a warm darkness, letting the world fall away until he felt like he was floating and sinking at once. Time lost meaning; it was just like when Tenten had done the Kouryuu Rasen with him, that weightlessness, nothing against his skin but cool air and the brush of fingertips.

That part had only lasted a moment.

Suddenly his world had cracked and shattered into a screaming red, and the curse seal was burning straight through him, and something was wrenching at his very core, physically jerking him off the ground while a thousand hands shot forward to hold him down. He could feel it, the darkness that had taken him in the Sound Four's chamber - it was clinging to him now, squeezing his insides every time those cool hands tried to force it out, and he panicked, recoiling from the touch.

Kakashi-sensei's voice was in his ears, more urgent than it should be, telling him in muffled tones what he was supposed to do. He couldn't make out the words. Visions and voices were flashing before him, red eyes and brown eyes and blades, embraces, corpses, promises and pleas - was this what dying felt like? - all blending together until he didn't know where he was anymore.

Until one voice broke through, making the rest go still.

" _Then who are you?"_

After that, he remembered very little.

He knew only what he was told afterward: though he had resisted the exorcism for several minutes, quite suddenly he had stopped fighting. The medics had assumed he wouldn't remember what had caused the change; he hadn't bothered to correct them.

The creak of the door made Sasuke flinch back to the present. He only absently noted Kakashi-sensei moving to a far corner of the room, alongside the two ever-present Anbu, and taking out his book; he was more focused on the owner of the sandaled foot that tentatively crossed the doorway.

_Sakura…_

A long moment passed them just staring at each other, Sasuke's shoulders immediately tensing in anticipation of the crushing, tear-dampened embrace she had gone out of her way to give him so many times before.

It never came.

His teammate lingered in the doorway, her eyes taking in the lighter restraints around his limbs and flicking to the Anbu and back before she left the doorway. "Sasuke-kun."

She seemed to be studying him as she slid the door shut behind her, and in spite of himself he wondered what she saw.

Sakura reached the side of the bed in a few steps, then pulled up the visitors' chair as if it were an afterthought. Up close, he got a good look at the stiffness in her movements, the dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she had stopped living since he had last seen her.

"I just came from visiting Naruto."

Sasuke's breath stopped at the sound of Naruto's name, and he could only hold Sakura's expectant gaze for a moment before looking away. When it was clear he wasn't going to reply, she went on, "He's been asking about you. He wouldn't hold still for treatment until he knew you were here."

Sasuke didn't move, silently hoping that she could just go on talking without expecting a response.

Another beat, and she spoke up again, her voice thickening. "Don't you want to know how he is?" There the tears were. He could hear them creeping into her words, only coming closer to breaking through when she interrupted his silence again. "Sasuke-kun!"

The note of anger in her voice surprised him into meeting her gaze again, and she looked back with tearing eyes that did not plead so much as they accused. "Don't you?" she repeated.

 _Yes._  He wanted to know. It was one of the only things he wanted to know. But he wasn't ready to face Naruto yet, even if it was in words alone.

And looking at Sakura, acting so like and unlike herself, he knew he wasn't ready to face her yet either. He looked away again. "If he's asking you questions," he finally muttered, an instinctive shade of cruelty edging into his voice in his desire to make her go away, "he's obviously fine."

She was quiet for a little too long; so she would cry first, and then leave. Fine. So long as she would just get out, and leave him alone until--

A loud  _crack_  pierced the silence, and Sasuke's head whipped to the side, his cheek immediately stinging. From the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi-sensei lifting an arm to keep the Anbu from intervening. Sakura gasped, paling, and stared with wide eyes at the hand she'd slapped him with.

He didn't know which of them was more shocked.

Sakura was the one to recover first, before Sasuke could even think to lift his head. The surprise faded from her eyes, replaced with something he had never seen in her before.

When she spoke again, the anger came through clear and strong. "He almost died!" she hissed, new tears welling in her eyes. "For you! Naruto almost died, and Lee-san, and, and  _all_  of them, all for you! You can't even act like that matters to you?"

Sasuke finally looked up, speechless, but she wasn't finished yet. "You're always trying to get rid of me, Sasuke-kun, but this time I'm not going anywhere. I won't let you run away from us anymore, no matter what I have to do!" The tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, and in the back of his mind Sasuke wondered how many times he had made her cry. "And I won't let you hurt Naruto like that again," she went on, her voice starting to weaken with emotion. "I  _won't_. I'll get stronger, Sasuke-kun, and if this ever happens again, I won't…I  _won't_  just stand here and wait for you!"

When she finally finished, her breathing was heavy, her face tearstained, her hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. And looking at her that way, Sasuke had a sense that for the first time, he was really seeing the Sakura who had protected her teammates in the Forest of Death.  _This_  was the Sakura who had chopped off her hair and called him a coward, who had given him the strength to push back the curse seal the first time it had taken him over.

Maybe this was the Sakura that Naruto had seen from the beginning.

But Sakura could not read minds, and so only found another betrayal in his silence. "Fine," she said finally, standing. "Don't say anything." He watched her turn her back on him and start for the door, conviction in her every step.

"Thank you."

She froze at the sound of his voice, and he didn't doubt she was flashing on the last thing he had said to her before leaving the village. But this time, when he was giving her the chance, she didn't turn to ask him what he was thanking her for.

As the door slid shut behind her, he could only think it was because this time, she knew.

-

Tenten had never known herself to be a particularly fast healer, so she credited Tsunade's skill alone for the fact that she was tentatively on her feet again within three days of her admittance to the hospital.

Well. Technically, she wasn't  _supposed_  to be on her feet, or making any attempt to get out of bed in the first place. But they couldn't honestly expect her to just lie there until she was discharged, could they? And what with Lee dropping in every day to update her on their fellow genin - who was improving, who was being released, who could start training again, making envy curl in her chest - there was no way she could just sit and wait.

Which is why, when Lee burst into her room on the fourth day, grinning from ear to ear, and announced that Neji could finally have visitors, she had jumped at the chance.

But now, as she followed Lee down hall after hall in a hospital that was really much bigger than it looked, clad only in thin hospital pajamas and with plenty of time to think, suddenly it all didn't seem like such a brilliant idea.

Because suddenly the memory of her last conversation with Neji was very clear in her mind - the iciness in his eyes, the flatness in his voice, the rigidity of his limbs. She hadn't thought about that day since the moment the medics had brought him in. But now that she was thinking about it, now that she was remembering his accusations and how she had blown up at him when he was really just looking out for her, her stomach roiled with the paralyzing fear that maybe he didn't even want to see her.

"Tenten?"

Blinking, she looked up to see Lee a few steps ahead of her, looking back with concern. She hadn't realized she had stopped walking altogether. "What is it? Are you all right?"

Tenten nodded numbly, falling into the nervous habit of biting her lip. "Look," she said finally, "maybe you should just go see him now. I mean, I'm not really supposed to be out of bed anyway, and he's probably tired, and…"

She knew her decidedly weak excuse hadn't passed when her teammate's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, his face opening with dismay. "But Tenten, you must come!" he cried, crossing back to her and clasping both of her hands in an imploring gesture. "You are the person he most wants to see! I could not face the disappointment of our precious teammate if I were to tell him that--"

"Wait," Tenten finally managed to interrupt, not bothering to pull her hands back, and eyed Lee with no small amount of confusion. "He told you that?"

"Well, no…"

Tenten's shoulders slumped.

"But!" Lee went on, catching her eye again. "I still promise you that it is true! Words were not necessary to see what it was he desired - why, his passionate reaction to the news of your condition was more than enough!"

A glance at Tenten's lost expression, and he kept going, finally dropping her hands. "Forgive me for not telling you, Tenten, but the opportunity has not presented itself until this moment! Gai-sensei told me himself: it would seem that Neji briefly awoke while you were in surgery, and when he found out the reason why - that you went after Sasuke-kun - such was the strength of his reaction that two medics had to intervene, to keep him from injuring himself! He demanded more information, but Gai-sensei did not want to excite him any further."

Tenten searched Lee's eyes, not quite daring to believe him yet. "Are you sure?" she asked, and he gave a vigorous nod.

"So you must come," he pleaded. Tenten looked at him, then down the last hall, then back; then, finally, she sighed.

"Okay."

Immediately she was half-crushed in a hug that nearly knocked her over. "Thank you, Tenten! I assure you that you will not regret this wise decision!"

Just as suddenly, Lee had let go and marched ahead again, leaving Tenten to reel on her feet for a second before tentatively following.

 _The strength of his reaction_ …what did that mean? That he was angry? Worried?  _Or maybe he was just delirious,_ Tenten thought wryly to herself, afraid to hope that he would be that concerned with her. What if he got even more upset with her for going after Sasuke?

By the time they reached his door, Tenten had worried herself into a silent frenzy. She wanted to see him…God, that was the only thing she had wanted for days, ever since she found out he had pulled through.

But if he didn't…

"Ready?"

She looked up and met Lee's eyes, and was instantly comforted by the certainty she saw there.

_Now or never._

Taking a deep breath, Tenten nodded to Lee, and he replied with an encouraging smile as he reached forward and pulled on the handle.

The door slid open, briefly blinding her with sunlight. And when her vision focused, she found herself locked in a gaze she had thought she might never see again.

_Neji…_

For that second, he was suddenly the only person in the world, and the most beautiful and heartbreaking sight she had ever beheld. The pallor in his face and the way his left arm lay useless at his side were almost too much to bear, but the fact that he was sitting up, awake,  _alive_ , far outweighed it.  _He was alive._  The subtle widening of his eyes, so small a motion that anyone else would think they'd dreamed it, affected her so deeply that something rose in her chest, a sob, or a laugh, or a shout - it was too strong for just one name, too powerful to contain.

And then in a flurry of motion, she had crossed the room in three long strides and thrown her arms around his neck, careful of his wounds but completely forgetting her own. The room quieted, and he inhaled, and Tenten hugged him as tight as she could, burying her face in his shoulder and breathing him in.

After a beat, there was a whisper of cloth, and she felt weakened fingers fisting in the back of her shirt. She squeezed her eyes shut when the grip tightened, and felt her breath shake when, in a mirror of her own movement, his head slowly bowed against her shoulder.

Never before had she felt so many words pass through such a perfect silence.

She didn't know how long she would have stayed in that stillness if it hadn't been broken by a loud sniffle from her left. "My team…my excellent genin team has reunited! At last, you've all come together in victory over the barren winter of  _death!_ "

 _Barren winter?_  Tenten finally opened her eyes and parted a bit from Neji, both of them turning a skeptical eye toward Gai-sensei as he leapt from the visitors' chair and triumphantly raised a fist. She hadn't even noticed he was there. "No obstacle is too great!" he declared. "Such acts of heroism have proven to me that the three of you surely have the most supreme youthful vitality in your hearts! No doubt you will become the greatest team of shinobi that Leaf has  _ever known!_ "

" _Sensei!_ " Lee cried, bounding across the room to cling to their sensei with watering eyes. She shook her head and let them have their moment, though when she caught Neji rolling his eyes, she couldn't help but smile, her worries forgotten. She was finally here with all of the people she called family, and they were all becoming themselves again.

After a second, she felt Neji's fingers move against her back - not letting go, just adjusting, sending tiny tremors up her spine - and realized that she hadn't even thought of letting go of him yet. Suddenly irrationally worried about overstepping her boundaries, Tenten finally let her hands slip away from his shoulders with a small cough. He let go a moment after, but eyed her curiously while she took a seat on the side of the bed.

"What happened to you?" he asked under the din of Gai-sensei and Lee, and Tenten started at the sound of his voice. She'd turned to face him before she could even think how to answer, and abruptly cut herself off.

"…What happened to  _you?_ " she asked back, her eyes widening at his newly shorn hair. She hadn't even noticed it before, but now the change was glaringly obvious, to the point that she had to check herself to keep from gawking.

Neji's expression immediately flattened, and he grumbled something about surgery procedures, but she only half heard it, struck as she was by the way his hair moved with him as he turned to glare at the wall, falling into his face just a little and making him look  _so incredibly_ \--

"Stop that."

"--What?" she asked with a start, her eyes snapping back to his. Neji only sent her a deadpan expression that made her face heat up.

"You haven't answered the question."

Tenten opened her mouth, but nothing came out. With a look that strongly reminded her of when he'd asked about the bruises on her neck, he pressed, "Why were you in surgery?"

"I…" How was she supposed to say this? Somehow telling him the truth of it, after he'd warned her more than once about Sasuke, felt like an impossibility - almost as impossible as the thought of lying to him. "…I tried to be a hero," she said finally, growing comfortable in the knowledge that she wasn't being dishonest, "and it kind of backfired on me."

"Not at all!" Both of them turned to find that Gai-sensei had suddenly turned toward them, Lee watching him with wide eyes. Beaming, their sensei directed his attention to Neji and Lee. "Our Tenten followed her instincts when others panicked, and bravely subdued young Sasuke to allow my eternal rival and myself to come to her aid! And not only that, but by the time we arrived, she had brought him to see the error of his ways, even though she was nearly spent! Such actions set an example for all shinobi, no matter their rank!"

Tenten could only gape at her sensei for a minute, flushing with the praise, before quickly shaking her head. "…Sensei, I didn't exactly--"

"Wow…" Lee breathed, watching her with wide eyes. "Tenten, you're amazing!"

"But--no…" she stammered, unused to being the center of attention and suddenly very uncomfortable, "…not really, all I did was--"

"Ah!" Gai-sensei interrupted. "Modesty befitting a budding Konoha shinobi! A most beautiful thing!"

" _Sensei…_ "

"Excuse me." All four turned their eyes towards the door, where a medic-the same stressed-out guy from before, Tenten noted-had appeared in the entryway. He glanced between them before going on, "Visiting hours will be over in a few minutes. Any other  _patients_ ," here he gave a pointed look to Lee, who grinned sheepishly, "should be returning to their rooms."

"Of course!" Gai-sensei replied for them, making the medic flinch at his volume. "My team will certainly need their rest before they can resume their rigorous training schedule once again. I will personally see to it that they return to their rooms without dallying!" He punctuated the promise with a thumbs-up and a toothy grin that actually made the medic blink a few times before nodding and vanishing. Gai-sensei turned toward the door, bound and determined to keep his promise. "Come, Lee! Tenten!"

Tenten sighed, giving up on trying to explain what had really happened, and turned toward Neji to say goodbye, only to find that he was watching her with something unreadable in his eyes. She flinched back a little, startled. "…What?"

He didn't move for a moment, locking them in a brief staring contest until he finally looked away.

"After this, I'll be training with my uncle for the Chuunin Exam," he said quietly.

Tenten froze, hurt pricking at her before she quickly covered it up. "Oh," she murmured, averting her eyes. So he hadn't forgotten the last things he'd said to her before he left. He'd really meant them. "Well…that's…"

Her voice failed her when he looked up again, shocking her vision with white.

"I want you to help me."

Tenten's eyes widened, her heart leaping. This time Neji kept her gaze…waiting, she realized. Waiting for an answer, because he thought there was a chance that she would say no.

Funny, that he thought she was capable of saying no to him.

Her lips curved into a small smile, and she nodded. Immediately some of the tension left his shoulders, and feeling suddenly bold, she reached out to give his hand a squeeze. "Get better fast, okay?" she said, and felt something flutter in her chest when he didn't pull away.

Once she had left the room after Gai-sensei, it didn't even occur to Tenten to wipe the blissful grin off her face until a moment after they had dropped off Lee, when a glimpse of something from the corner of her eye slowed her step.

Just inside the hallway to her right was a pair of Anbu, one on either side of a door that crackled quietly with inlaid chakra.

_That must be…_

A glance at Gai-sensei's newly solemn expression confirmed it.  _That's Sasuke's room._

"Tenten…though I did make a passionate promise to return you at once to your room," her teacher began slowly, watching her with a sharper eye than anyone who didn't know him would expect, "if you wish to exchange a few words with him while I am available to supervise, I would be willing to make an exception."

Tenten's eyes widened a little, and she looked back at the Anbu, and what they were guarding. He was right on the other side of that door. Tentatively, she took a step forward--

 _("I'm--not--_ like _them!" The flash of light on metal and a sickening sound of tearing muscle, fire in her chest, her reflection in dark eyes that would melt into horror, but not before the one instant, the cold glint of satisfaction--)_

Tenten froze, suddenly feeling short of breath, and quickly shook her head. Her arms unconsciously rose to curl around her bandaged ribs.

Gai-sensei didn't question her, only scrutinizing her for a moment while she tried to make sense of how rapidly her heart now hammered against the wound the bandages hid. "Very well," was all he said, and a wave of gratitude rushed through her when he moved to walk on her other side, between her and the door, without another word.

When she got back to her room, she slipped under the bed sheets, closed her eyes, and prayed that she wouldn't dream.

-

_Mission in Lightning Country. Back Tuesday morning._

_If needed, leave a note._

_-K_

_**Need to talk. -S** _

Sasuke panned his eyes over the half-crumpled note from a few weeks before, then looked back up at Kakashi-sensei, unsure how he was meant to respond. In return, his sensei reached forward to tap the bottom of the sheet, where Sasuke had scrawled his reply, and looked at him with a lifted brow.

The look said plenty, but Sasuke didn't answer right away. His eyes lingered on the tiny Uchiha fan he had scribbled out next to his initial before lowering to his hands, finally free of restraints now that a week had gone by without incident. In spite of the bit of freedom, he was still painfully aware of the chakra inlaid in the walls of his hospital room, and the way the Anbu or Kakashi-sensei was always just visible from the corner of his eye. Those precautions, he knew, would not be going away anytime soon.

Another quick glance upward told him that Kakashi-sensei was still waiting, and he looked down again. He carefully let his mind return to the day he'd written the note, before Itachi had ripped a hole in his world again, when his tenuous relationship with Tenten had been at the forefront of his life.

Well, there was no point in trying to fool Kakashi-sensei now.

"Back then…I was lying about the curse seal," he said finally, a little surprised at how little effort it took, when he had once been so keen on avoiding the subject. "I haven't been able to control it for…a while." A beat, and a wry exhale escaped his throat. He shook his head. "I never could control it."

"Oh, good."

Kakashi-sensei's response was so entirely out-of-place that Sasuke was looking up again before he realized it. Slipping the note into a pocket, his sensei positioned himself more comfortably against the wall and cheerfully went on, "I've been waiting for that confession. Beating around the bush can be tiring after a while…"

Sasuke blinked a few times, incredulous at what he was hearing. "You knew?"

"Of course." With a glance at Sasuke's expression, he elaborated, "You are very good on the battlefield, but you wouldn't last five minutes in an interrogation room. You don't look anyone in the eye when you're lying. Not to mention that every time I brought it up, you flinched."

"…Oh," Sasuke muttered, a quick sweep of his memory confirming both of his sensei's observations and making him sink a little on his mattress. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, at the time, I trusted your judgement." The matter-of-fact tone of his voice did little to soften the implication of the statement, and and Sasuke had to force himself not to lower his eyes. "As long as no one was hurt, I didn't see any reason to press the subject, because there wasn't much that could be done outside the training sessions we were already having. And if anything serious did happen, I trusted that you would come to me. Which brings me back to the matter of this," he said, pulling the note partway out of his vest pocket, "and what exactly you needed to talk about."

He forgot sometimes just how observant Kakashi-sensei could be.

And here came the hard part, reawakening guilt that had been left to rust, on top of that which was already weighing him down. He had to swallow a couple of times before he could make himself say the words.

"Something did happen." Quite suddenly, any remaining amusement had left the air around Kakashi-sensei, and the room felt much quieter than before. He inhaled, exhaled. "This wasn't the first time." A hesitation, and he specified as much as he dared. "…With her."

Kakashi-sensei gave a slow, comprehending nod, and Sasuke went on, going into as much detail as he remembered. Somehow, finally being able to tell him all this, to finish what he had first set out to do before he heard his brother's name, gave him a sense of freedom that he couldn't describe if he tried. It gave him the strength to confess what he had done without sinking any deeper into the guilt that he had carried with him from the moment he'd awakened.

It made him feel like Uchiha Sasuke for the first time since the moment red eyes had met red.

All the while, Kakashi-sensei listened in silence, giving no response but the occasional nod or prompt to go on. When Sasuke had finished, he only uncrossed his arms, repositioning his hands in his pockets, and murmured, "I see."

Then, after a long pause, he shook his head, a small sound of dry amusement coming through his mask. "The two of you certainly have an interesting relationship."

Sasuke stared at him blankly for a moment before realizing what else he could be referring to. A memory flashed through his mind of the note Kakashi-sensei had left the night that Tenten had slept over, and the blood rushed to his face before he could think to control it.

"…It was storming," he finally grumbled, sinking a little farther down. "That time…it was just storming, and my house was closer, and she fell asleep." Growing inexplicably defensive, he averted his eyes. "Nothing happened."

"Oh?" This time there was definitely a teasing note in his voice. "Interesting, that you didn't look me in the eye when you said that…"

Sasuke's eyes widened, his mouth falling open. It took a moment of trying and failing to get words out for him to regain his composure. With a vain attempt to banish the flush from his cheeks, he stubbornly met his sensei's amused gaze. "Nothing…"

Almost immediately he had the urge to look away, and he thought about it for a second before rephrasing. "…Nothing like  _that_  happened."

His teacher put on an expression of innocence. "Hm? Nothing like what?"

Sasuke suppressed the urge to throw his hands in the air in frustration. He instead settled on exhaling loudly and making a point of looking away. "Forget it."

But he was only allowed a moment of sulking before a battle-worn hand was ruffling his hair, surprising him into an indignant cringe. When he looked up again, torn between irritation and something else, his sensei was already turning toward the door.

"It's good to have you back."

Then, with an acknowledging nod to the Anbu across the room, he pulled the door open with one hand, pulled out  _Icha Icha Odyssey_  with the other, and vanished into the hall.

Sasuke's eyes lingered on the door while he reached up to straighten out his hair, then glanced at the Anbu and back before he moved from his sitting position to stretch out on his back, feeling inexplicably relaxed - at least, more so than he had felt in a long time. Even when his fingers habitually moved to run over the curse seal, sending small pricks through his arm and neck, he didn't feel it as anything more than a reminder that it was there.

Lying in this hospital room for a week had given him a lot of time to think. Sakura hadn't come back since the last time, and Naruto…

Sasuke heaved a slow sigh, fixing his eyes on the ceiling. He didn't know how things stood between him and Naruto. It had come as both a relief and a disappointment when Kakashi-sensei had informed him that his teammate had already left with another of the Sannin to train outside the village until the Chuunin Exam in December; as reluctant as he still felt about facing Naruto, there was something intensely frustrating about not even being given the chance.

But that wasn't exactly true, he reminded himself. When he'd had the chance, he had hidden behind the belief that he wasn't ready. He'd run away from it, away from Naruto, just like Sakura had said.

She had been right. He had to stop. He  _would_  stop.

And when Naruto did come back, stronger than ever, he would be able to look him in the eye and show him that he wasn't the only one who could change.

-

" _Really?"_

_A reassuring smile. "I promise."_

" _Wow…hey, hey, you're cooler than I thought, Tenten!"_

"… _Thanks?…But hey, are you sure about not going to at least see him? It sounds like you'll be gone for a long time."_

" _Yeah…but Ero-sennin wants to get a lot of training in before the next Chuunin Exam. Besides, right now I can't talk to Sasuke without Kakashi-sensei or someone there, and only for twenty minutes. That's not long enough for anything good, y'know? So I'm just gonna wait until I've gotten a lot stronger so I can knock some sense into him if he gets stupid again."_

_A shared laugh. "Well, good luck. I guess I'll see you at the Exam, huh?"_

" _Yep!" The shuffle of sandals on tile, the creak of the door. "Hey, Tenten?"_

" _Yeah?"_

"… _Thanks."_

On the first day after her reunion with Neji, Tenten had a conversation with Naruto.

" _I mean it. You were thinking clearly, and I was letting my emotions get in the way." A beseeching bow, tinged with a badly-hidden wince. "I'm sorry I blew up at you like that."_

" _Tch. Forget about it." Careful hands helping her to straighten, contrasting the ever-disgruntled tone of his voice. "Apologies are too troublesome, anyway…oh, by the way. I don't know what this is about, but Temari said to tell you she can kind-of see what you mean now, about it not being the same." A half-curious glance, to see if the statement means anything to her._

_It does._

On the second day, she made amends.

_A clipped voice, muffled by the white Anbu mask. "Is this the weapon he used against you?"_

_A dry, difficult swallow at the sight of her reflection in the half-rusted steel, tinged red with her blood._

" _Yes."_

_A shift of cloth as the Anbu moves to put the blade away; a strange panic rising in her stomach. "Um…excuse me, but…" A pause. Brown eyes settle on the blade. "Could I…?"_

_An exchanged glance between the two Anbu questioners; a flash of light against the blade as they hold it handle-out in her direction._

_A skip in her pulse when her fingers close around it._

_Bravery rises. "…I'm sorry if this is strange, but…when you're done with the investigation, would it be all right if I kept this?"_

On the third day, she took a chance.

_Somehow, she is standing outside his door again._

_What she doesn't expect is for the door to open, and Hatake Kakashi to be standing before her._

" _Visiting?" he asks._

" _No…" Automatic. A painfully understanding nod before he continues on his--_

" _\--Yes." A pause. Her abdomen throbs as if the thought of him has slipped the blade right back under her ribs. But if she doesn't now…_

_He steps out of the doorway, allowing her to pass. A wary glance between the two Anbu; then she steels herself._

_For the first time in a week, she meets his eyes._

And on the fourth day, she found the strength to face him.

-

They stared at each other in silence for far too long before simultaneously looking away. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see Tenten's gaze wandering to the ceiling, the floor, the Anbu guards, looking as if she would rather be anywhere else. Not that he would blame her.

It was too hard to look at her and talk to her at the same time, so he fastened his eyes on his hands, white-knuckled from gripping the sheets. "You don't have to stay."

She stopped breathing for a second, and he swallowed. "If Kakashi-sensei said something…"

"No--" The interruption surprised him into glancing up, meeting her eyes for only a moment before she looked away again. "I mean…" she went on, more softly, "he didn't…well, he did, but…" She stopped, taking a calming breath. "I was already here."

Sasuke didn't reply, and they lapsed back into that uncomfortable silence. Across the room, one of the Anbu coughed quietly before returning to a hushed conversation with his partner.

Tenten looked…different. He couldn't identify it right away, but something was strange about her. She was breathing too fast, standing too still, compulsively gripping and releasing her elbows from where her arms crossed over her middle. It was a position he had seen her stand in several times, but there was something odd about it now, something almost defensive - she was protecting herself.

Protecting herself, because she was afraid.

The realization hit Sasuke like a punch in the stomach - that was it, that was what had changed. She was scared. He had never seen her scared before.

But it made sense. Even the most forgiving people had their breaking point. He had lost his right to her forgiveness.

Finally he found his voice again. "Tenten, I--" he began, at the exact same time that Tenten started, "Look, Sasuke--"

Both of them clamped their mouths shut, waiting for the other to keep going, before Tenten broke the gaze again. "Go ahead."

Sasuke's automatic reaction was to open his mouth to tell her the same thing, but after looking at her a moment longer, he decided against it. He would give her that much.

But this wasn't like the last time, when he could just blame the curse seal for his actions and settle it with a muttered one-word apology. If it were, Tenten would be able to look at him right now. No, this time it had been all his doing, and he couldn't run from that.

So he wouldn't. Not anymore.

With a newly steeled resolve, Sasuke shifted to swing his legs out from under the sheets, almost wincing at how much effort it took just for that. The floor was surprisingly cold against his feet when he shifted his weight onto them.

He pretended not to notice how Tenten's body instinctively twitched backward when she realized he was getting up, or how her breath sped up ever so slightly. She stood her ground in spite of it; even now, she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Across the room, the Anbu had paused in their conversation to eye him, instantly on their guard. He didn't acknowledge them. They could think what they wanted about him. Only one person in this room mattered to him right now.

And so, when he stood, his gaze didn't wander anymore. He looked her directly in the eyes. Then he clenched his fists and bowed low, his hair falling forward and swathing his vision in shadow.

Tenten froze.

"I'm sorry." When he said the words, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt them all the way from his core. He heard a slow intake of breath from her direction, and unconsciously echoed it. "For all of it, I'm…sorry."

He wasn't sure how long the moment stretched before Tenten finally seemed to find her voice again. "Sasuke…" He didn't move, not yet, and the floor gave a soft creak when she shifted uncomfortably. "Sasuke, get up."

Not exactly the response he had expected, but then, he hadn't really known what he expected in the first place. His head swam a little when he straightened, reminding him that he really wasn't supposed to be out of bed, but he felt a strange touch of gratitude when Tenten didn't reach out to steady him.

At length, she moved to rest her back against the closest wall, rewarding him with that small bit of trust, though her arms didn't uncurl from her midsection, still protecting her. After he had sat down again, she tentatively met his eyes.

"So it's true?" she asked. "You really had Tsunade-sama get rid of part of the curse?" Before, it had been hard to hold her gaze; now it was hard to look away. He nodded, and curiosity edged into her face. "Why did you?"

He had to think about it for a moment; this was the first time anyone had questioned it. The others had just been satisfied that he was willingly giving up Orochimaru's power. "…Because it wasn't mine," he said finally. "Because when I defeat my brother, I want him to know that it's  _me_ , not anyone else." A pause, and his voice quieted of its own accord. "…Because you were right."

Tenten's mouth quirked up just a bit. "I could have told you that."

In spite of everything, Sasuke found himself mirroring the expression, feeling inexplicably relieved.

"…So…what happens now?" she asked after the moment passed. "For you, I mean."

This was an answer he didn't have to think about. "Constant surveillance," he began, not bothering to gesture at the Anbu guards. She glanced at them for him. "Anbu now, but I think later it's just going to be Kakashi-sensei. I'll be living with him until they say otherwise."

Tenten slowly let out a breath he hadn't noticed she'd been holding. "That's not so bad."

Sasuke shook his head in agreement. Compared to what he had expected, having Kakashi-sensei as a constant guardian wasn't bad at all. "I'll be training with him and Mitarashi Anko every day, to control the curse seal," he went on, almost mechanically. "Any outside training has to be approved and supervised, with minimal chakra use. Mostly weapons-training--"

He abruptly cut himself off then, and there was a beat of silence as both acknowledged what that could mean for them, if it could still mean anything at all.

They looked away at the same time, and Sasuke took a deep breath, willing away the memory of her fingers around his wrist and against his back when she first corrected his technique. "…And only D-rank missions inside the village until further notice," he finally added almost under his breath, distaste creeping into his voice. House arrest, supervised training, loss of privacy - those he could handle, but being demoted to D-rank missions was just unnecessary humiliation.

When he looked up, he was surprised to find that his obvious irritation had brought a faint grin to Tenten's lips. Almost immediately he felt himself relax as she did.

"What about the Chuunin Exam?" she asked, the smile genuine but short-lived. "Are they letting you go?"

Sasuke gave a slow shrug. "I don't know yet. Probably not."

Tenten lowered her eyes. "That's too bad," she murmured, and Sasuke blinked in surprise. At the sight of his expression, she seemed to grow a little flustered. "I-I mean, because you were getting really good. At least, you were a lot better the last time we…" She paused, and Sasuke froze, suddenly remembering just what had happened the last time they had trained together. She seemed to be thinking of the same thing, because she sank a little against the wall. "…Well, you were," she finally finished, eying the floor as if looking for a hole to crawl into.

He wouldn't have minded sinking into a hole himself. The memory had come back in such clarity that he almost felt embarrassed just thinking about that day, about that feeling of flying when she had performed the Kouryuu Rasen with him, about the strange exhiliration of being so close to her when they hit the ground, about how her lips had been warm and a little chapped from the wind--

He mentally slapped himself before thinking into it any further.

"…About that," he muttered, shifting uncomfortably, "sorry about…that…"

"It's okay," she said quickly, mercifully saving him from having to say it out loud. He could have kissed her again just for that. "You've done worse…"

Sasuke's eyes snapped up, but one glance at her face told him she hadn't said it to be cruel. Her expression seemed unsure, caught somewhere between the statement's risk and its irony. Relaxing, Sasuke decided the latter would be better for both of them, and nodded. "I guess."

"Five minutes," one of the Anbu called from the other side of the room, startling them both into glancing over. Sasuke couldn't keep a shade of irritation out of his face. He'd completely forgotten about the time limit.

Tenten was the first to look away from the guard, her eyes coming to rest on the one scroll on the wall, scrawled with hospital regulations.

"I was questioned by the Anbu yesterday," she said, so casually that it took a second before he realized how important it really was. When he didn't reply, she went on, "They asked if I knew why you decided to come back after…" she took a deep breath, "…after."

Sasuke watched her face in silence, his mouth slowly going dry.

"They thought I was lying at first, when I told them I didn't know." Finally she looked away from the scroll and met his gaze. "Why did you?" she asked. "What changed?"

Sasuke thought he would have to search for an answer for much longer, but he found it was surprisingly simple.

"I did."

Tenten looked at him for a long moment, something changing in her eyes.

Then her lips curved into a small smile, and she pushed away from the wall in preparation to leave. Out of habit alone, he flinched as if to get up with her, but a sudden warmth at his shoulder stopped him.

Her hand only shook for a second before bravely giving his shoulder a squeeze, then slipping away. It was more than he thought he'd earned, but she gave it without letting him question.

"Thanks for coming back."

She was already reaching for the door by the time he found his voice again, and when he did, it came out softer than he had intended.

"You, too."

She didn't reply. The only sign that she'd even heard him was the slightest pause in her step.

But it was enough.

-

The next few weeks passed more quickly than Tenten had imagined they could. Visits to Neji's hospital room turned into occasionally assisting with his physical therapy, then into scolding him and Lee for trying to do too much when they were supposed to be taking it easy; the pulsing ache in her abdomen gradually ebbed until all that remained was a small, pale scar. Whispers about Sasuke's escape attempt dwindled within a week, replaced by talk of the upcoming Chuunin Exam in Sunagakure, the next day's mission, the promise of a cold winter in the winds.

And for a while, Uchiha Sasuke seemed to disappear.

She hadn't seen much of him since his release from the hospital. Now and then she would catch part of a training session with his sensei and Anko-san, or glimpse him fixing a roof or carrying water for a mission, but otherwise she had very little contact with him. The few times she had dared to try paying him a visit at Kakashi-sensei's apartment, the jounin himself had answered the door, giving her a clear view of where Sasuke had all but passed out on his couch.

"It shouldn't be like this for too long," his sensei had assured her, a note of apology in his voice. "Part of the council's punishment was to make sure that even if he did plan on running again, he would be too exhausted to carry it out."

Each time, he promised to let Sasuke know she had stopped by. Even so, she never held her breath waiting for a reply.

So she would go back to spar with Lee, or help Neji get back up to speed, or just spend some time training alone, using wires to bring her kunai to life. Those times were starting to become her favorites, when she could lie in the grass and make her blades flash in a way that could never make her feel anything but free. As her control got better and better, a strange feeling of invincibility was awakened in her, only showing its face in the reflection of steel. When she summoned her weapons, she could turn them into whatever she wanted.

It was that thought, drifting through her mind on a night when she only had to share the training grounds with the stars, that made her pause, a realization bringing new light to her eyes.

Her mind had started work on that realization at once, and hadn't stopped since. And that was what it was doing after her check-up at the hospital on the last day of October, distracting her into taking a shortcut she hadn't taken in almost two months.

There were eight impacts.

The sound stopped Tenten mid-step, making her suddenly realize just what path she was taking. But before she could even react to that, her mind finally registered the sound, making her eyebrows draw together. She only knew one kunai technique with a rhythm like that.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she stepped forward and parted the brush.

_Sasuke…_

His back was to her, giving her a clear view of the Uchiha fan on the back of his shirt. A glance around the clearing confirmed her suspicion: embedded in each of the eight targets she always used for the Kouryuu Rasen was a well-placed kunai.

No…not kunai, she found, looking closer. Not real ones, at least. As he pulled them from the targets - which, she noted with amusement, he did by tugging on eight wires he must have attached to them himself, just like she had shown him - she could see that their tips were dulled; even now he wasn't trusted.

"Sasuke." She turned with Sasuke toward Kakashi-sensei's voice, coming from somewhere above in the trees. "Take a break."

His face pulled into a frown. "Why?"

"It's impolite to ignore a visitor."

Tenten's breath caught, and in the next moment, her eyes had locked with Sasuke's.

He looked…better. Healthier. She couldn't put her finger on how, but something about him just seemed calmer, more stable than even before his brother had attacked him.

But still…

"…Hi," she finally said, a bit lamely, as she took a tentative step into the clearing. "You don't have to stop, I was just…" She jerked a thumb in the direction of the hospital.

"It's fine." His voice was just as quiet as when she had spoken to him in the hospital, though the roughness had finally slipped away. As soon as he had pocketed his kunai, he took a step back in a silent gesture for her to come in to the clearing, rather than hover around the edge.

No sooner had she accepted than a flutter of wings caught both of their attention, revealing one of the Hokage's messenger birds flying just above their heads and in the direction Kakashi-sensei's voice had come from.

"Picking up Kakashi-sensei's report," Sasuke explained at Tenten's questioning look. "He has to write one out every week that I stay with him."

If he had any opinion about what he was saying, he didn't show it. Tenten glanced at where the bird had gone, then back at Sasuke. "How's that going?" she tried, and he shrugged, though a look of distaste crossed his face.

"He snores," he muttered under his breath.

He said it with such complete seriousness that a laugh bubbled out of Tenten before she could cover it with her hand. "Sorry," she managed between giggles, but he gave a dismissive shake of his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up just a little.

"Hey," Tenten piped up, surprising herself with how comfortable she suddenly felt, "it looks like you're getting a lot better at that technique. That last kunai is getting really close."

Sasuke seemed to relax with her, leaning back on the nearest tree and slipping his hands into his pockets. "Yeah," he agreed, some of his old cockiness coming through before vanishing just as quickly. "I don't know what it is. The last two wires still get tangled up."

"Really?" Tenten found herself stepping forward, her mind automatically going through all the possible reasons the trajectory would be off. "If you want to try it again, I could look at it for you - I mean, if that's okay," she backpedaled, peering at his face in a sudden worry that she was going too far, too soon.

But Sasuke only eyed her for a moment before giving a silent nod. Something in his expression made the worry disappear from Tenten's mind - it was trust, she realized. He was trusting her to be honest with him, trusting her to help him improve, trusting her to not use this moment against him, no matter how easy it would be or whether she was entitled to it.

It hadn't occurred to her until then how much she had missed being among the few people he would give that to.

Tenten watched patiently while he pulled out his dulled kunai, allowed the wires to untangle themselves, and slipped them into place--

"Wait," she interrupted, and he glanced up. Without a word of explanation, Tenten walked in a circle around him, eying each of the eight kunai on him. It was only when she caught him watching her with a lifted eyebrow that she spoke again. "I think it might have to do with your positioning. Let me see how you take out the last two kunai."

Sasuke eyed her skeptically, but did as he was told, and the answer clicked in Tenten's mind, bringing a triumphant smile to her face. "Got it."

"What?"

"It is the positioning," she confirmed, stepping forward. "You're regressing. The position of the last two kunai would be right,  _if_  you were using your old grip. See?" She nodded at the last kunai in his hand, then reached forward without thinking to correct his grip herself. "You'll want to position them a little deeper in the holster, so that when you grab them, you'll already have the right grip…"

She trailed off then, suddenly very aware of how close they were standing, and how she couldn't read his eyes like she could a moment ago, and how his fingers were rough but surprisingly warm as they closed around the kunai's handle.

"…Give it a try, anyway," she finally murmured, letting her hands drop to clasp behind her back. "It should help." He nodded, and just like that she could read him again, almost able to see him making a mental note of her instructions. "So, I heard they're letting you into the Chuunin Exam after all?" she asked, determined to shake away the strangeness of that moment.

Sasuke nodded again, pocketing the kunai. "Barely. Naruto won't even be back from training until the first day of the Exam, and Sakura's taken on that apprenticeship at the hospital, so there won't be any group training until then." He looked at the sky, something between sadness and approval in his eyes. "It's a risk."

"Well, it's a risk they're taking, so you must have done something right," Tenten said, grinning, though inside she was hit with a strange note of melancholy. Even though he hadn't left the village, in some ways he was still alone.

"…Hey…" she was saying before she could talk herself out of it, "…if you ever get tired of training with the same people all the time…I mean, since you've been doing it for almost two months, and Neji is spending a lot of time training with his uncle, and Lee and Gai-sensei always train together, and…" Realizing that she had started babbling, she paused and took a breath. "…Just…the Chuunin Exam is in a month, and it looks like you could use a training partner."

When she looked up again, he was looking back with wariness in his face. "Are you sure?" he asked at length.

"…No," she admitted, trying not to look at the broken tree just behind him, the place where everything was almost lost. Instead, she looked him in the eye. "…But…I think that part of being a shinobi is learning how to move on.

"…And besides," she added after a moment, a teasing grin playing at her lips, "you might get an opponent who uses a bo staff, and then what would you do?"

Sasuke's eyes widened; then he shot her a dirty look, to which she responded with a cheeky smile.  _And because I missed this,_  she added in her mind, beaming at the grudging half-smirk she hadn't seen in so long.

"All right."


	12. Laid to Rest

_They stood in a deadlock under a red desert sky. He had her in a taijutsu hold on her stomach, which he could easily tighten to render her unconscious; she had a kunai pressed against his throat, suspended by a chakra wire connected to one finger._

_He didn't know which of them was breathing harder, but she was the one who finally called the moment for what it was, barely gasping it between breaths._

" _Draw?"_

_Sasuke blinked away the sweat trying to run into his eyes and gave a tiny nod, careful of the blade._

" _Draw."_

_He released her in the same moment that she pulled away the kunai. As soon as he was able, Sasuke dropped to the ground, resting his elbows on his knees, and bowed his head, exhausted. He hardly noticed the countless grains of sand sticking to his skin, far too busy re-teaching himself how to breathe._

_Tenten flopped onto her back at his side a moment later, looking just as winded and worn out as he felt. For a short while, all they did was catch their breath while the sun sank on the horizon, the heat of the day giving way to the chill of the desert night._

_There was a whisper of shifting sand when Tenten turned to look at him, still a little breathless. "Think you're ready?" she asked._

_Sasuke swallowed, then let himself breathe a bit longer before lifting his head. "Yeah."_

_He heard a smile in her breath as she turned back toward the sky, pillowing her head on one arm. "It's tomorrow," she murmured, a note of disbelief in her voice. Sasuke nodded._

_The final tournament of the Chuunin Exam, the day that could shape the rest of their lives, was less than twenty-four hours away. His opponent was to be a kunoichi from Hidden Rain, whose techniques he had never seen; Tenten's, a Hidden Rock shinobi with a bloodline limit that made him nearly untouchable._

_The village of Suna was far less forgiving than Konoha. They were given only two weeks to prepare for these Finals, and it was not a tournament in the real sense of the word. Rather than the winners moving on to fight one another until a single champion remained, each finalist was only entered for one fight. One chance to show an arena of thousands what they were truly made of._

_To call it an intimidating situation was a glaring understatement._

_Especially considering just how Sasuke - and Tenten, for that matter - had managed to qualify in the first place. Sasuke was very aware that fortune had been on their side that day. Tenten couldn't have been luckier than to be matched up against Hyuuga Hinata (though he wouldn't forget how her face had blanched for just a moment when she read the name, 'Hyuuga'): as impressive as the battle had been on both sides, she'd had the advantage of working against those bloodline techniques for three years running, and against a Hyuuga much more advanced than Hinata. And after the fight had been won, Tenten had helped Hinata to her feet and congratulated her on a good battle, and both had returned to the balcony smiling._

_His own experience had been very different. He had passed the preliminary only because his opponent had forfeited as soon as he heard the name, 'Uchiha Sasuke.'_

" _Hey." Sasuke blinked out of his thoughts, glancing over to find Tenten watching him thoughtfully. "Did you ever find out anything about that Rain kunoichi?" He shook his head, and she frowned a little, though the expression spoke more of concern than of any disappointment. "Well, be careful," she said._

_He nodded. "Yeah."_

" _Because remember, her team was the first one to get through the survival round--"_

" _I know."_

" _\--and you saw how her teammates follow her around like she's their leader, and that guy from the other Rain team forfeited so fast in the prelim--"_

"Tenten. _" He shot her a look and she fell silent, blinking innocently. "I know."_

_She winced, then sighed. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head and looking back at the sky. "I guess that's not helping, is it…"_

" _Tch. It doesn't matter," he muttered, offering a hand to pull her up. She accepted it, half-pushing herself into a sitting position next to him. "You should be thinking about your own fight, not mine."_

" _Yeah…" she said softly, pulling her knees together and clasping her arms around them._

_She didn't say anything for several moments after that, making it clear that she was well aware of the challenge she would be facing. Her future opponent's preliminary fight had been among the ugliest of the battles that day, ending with two examiners pulling the Rock-nin off of the Hidden Waterfall shinobi unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of his blows. But enough hits from someone who could produce razor-sharp spikes from his palms - not to mention any other part of his body that needed protecting - would have left even the most fortunate shinobi in dire condition._

_The medics had rushed the Waterfall-nin, a bloody, barely-recognizable mess, to the emergency room. Sasuke hadn't heard anything on whether he had survived._

_Thinking back on that now, he understood much better why Tenten had been focusing on his battle instead._

" _How's Naruto doing?" she asked suddenly, and Sasuke rolled his eyes before lowering them, watching the breeze make tiny waves in the sand._

" _He can't wait," he grumbled, shaking his head. "Moron."_

_Tenten gave a low chuckle at his side. "I bet he's the only genin here who would actually be excited to match up against that Gaara guy." Sasuke only grunted in response, and she sobered, looking at him sideways. "Are you guys talking at all?" she tried, her voice quieting._

"… _He talks," Sasuke muttered. He kept his eyes on the ground._

" _You don't?" she asked, but he didn't answer. At length, she dropped her gaze as well, pressing the subject no further. She didn't need to tell him how Naruto felt; Naruto had made that very clear himself during the survival exam, unable to hold it in any longer after a day of almost complete silence under the desert sun. After yet another question of his had been answered with a distracted grunt, he had gritted his teeth, turned, and stepped directly into Sasuke's path._

"Damn it, Sasuke! I've had enough of this!" _The words still echoed in his mind._ "So what if you went too far that one time? I could beat you any day, no matter how much you use that stupid curse seal, so just forget it already!"  _Behind Naruto and his clenched fists, Sakura had refused to meet Sasuke's eyes, which he could only interpret as agreement._  "I'm  _sick_  of you trying to act like you're not one of us anymore!"

 _That had been when he was supposed to say something. When he_ should _have said something, but he hadn't. It was too hard, looking at Naruto and knowing exactly what he was really saying: 'I forgive you. Now let's go back to the way things were before.'_

_He couldn't do that. Not yet._

_So he had only looked back at Naruto for a long moment, then muttered something about getting to shelter before nightfall and walked around him. The rest of that journey had passed in excruciating silence._

_Sighing, Sasuke tilted his head back, taking in the riot of stars before closing his eyes, letting go of the memory for the moment. Tomorrow would come too soon, and he didn't know what he was facing. So at least for a little while, he could just let himself exist, just be there, in the silence before impact._

_When he opened his eyes again, he found that Tenten was watching him with an expression that he couldn't read. She didn't look away when he met it. "…What?"_

_She smiled a little, then shook her head. "Nothing."_

_He watched her with a skeptical eye, but she turned her face to the sky and said no more.  
_

_-_

**Chapter 12: Laid to Rest**

-

The match between Hachibara Ringo of Hidden Rock and Tenten of Hidden Leaf had been going on for ten minutes, and it was not going well.

At the moment, neither shinobi could be seen from Sasuke's vantage point on the balcony; they were lost in a blur of sparks and flying steel. But even so, it wasn't looking good. Though Tenten had solidly held her own for this long, she had already used up several of her weapon scrolls and was covered in scratches from the Rock-nin's bloodline limit. He, on the other hand, still remained untouched. No matter what she threw at him, his quick reflexes and the strength of his bloodline saved him: every blade was flawlessly deflected by the strange blades that he could force out of his hands, his arms, even his forehead.

Sooner or later, one of them would have to wear out. And at this point, it didn't look like it would be Hachibara Ringo.

Sasuke snapped to attention when the two genin shot out of the confusion, Tenten attempting to distance herself while the Rock-nin refused to let her. She had wisely chosen a naginata from her stores, using its length to keep him from getting too close while employing the blade on the end to strike at him, but the Rock-nin blocked every attempt. With a growl of annoyance, he locked the spikes in his palms around the blade, trapping it there. In the time it took for Tenten's eyes to widen, the ground broke open at her feet, a shadow-clone rising out of the ground and locking his arms around hers, forcing them apart by digging sharp spikes into them and jerking backward. A yelp was wrenched out of her throat and she dropped the weapon, which the real Rock-nin tossed aside.

Sasuke's throat tightened. This starting to look far too much like the preliminary battle, and that wasn't something he was ready to see Tenten endure.

But it looked like that was exactly where it was going. Now that Tenten was disarmed and restrained, the Rock-nin stepped forward and looked her up and down. Then, while the clone held her back, he pulled back and slammed his spiked palm directly into her solar plexus. She gasped and buckled over his hand. When he pulled it back, the spikes were bloody.

A flash of that same blood on his own blade stole Sasuke's breath for a second, and he looked away, blinking a few times. But in that same moment, his gaze was suddenly captured by a shock of white.

Hyuuga Neji's expression, hardly different than his usual but somehow infinitely more severe, spoke as clearly as if he had said it aloud:  _Don't you look away._

He had hardly seen a glimpse of Hyuuga since they day he'd confronted him. Sasuke was sure Hyuuga knew the real reason Tenten had been in the hospital with them, but the punishment had never come. He didn't doubt that Tenten herself had a large part in that.

But Hyuuga's white-knuckled grip on the rail belied his passive behavior. Sasuke had a feeling that had he been matched up with Hyuuga Neji in this exam, it would not have ended well.

He felt his eyes narrow, but he only held Hyuuga's gaze for a moment before obeying the silent command. He tried not to notice his own hands gripping the railing just as tightly as Hyuuga's.

In the moment he hadn't been watching, it looked like Tenten had taken another solid hit to her left shoulder, her shirt punctured and slowly dying itself red. This guy was just playing with her now. Seeing how many ways he could make her bleed. (Sasuke had to force himself to take a breath when he realized that his Sharingan had activated, its wheels spinning furiously.) Even now, the Rock-nin was pulling back again, red-slicked spikes still sharp enough to glint in the light, and thrusting his palm forward for a third strike, this time directly at her face--

But then several things happened in the span of only a few seconds.

In the last moment before his palm connected, Tenten's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist so hard that even Sasuke could hear it crack. With a shout of effort, she dodged her head to the side and, in the same moment, redirected his strike to make a direct hit - on his shadow-clone. It vanished with a loud  _pop_ , and with the smoke curling around them both, she pulled back and head-butted him, making him stagger back a few steps. Then, when the distance was right, she flipped backwards with the acrobatic grace she'd always possessed, getting in a solid kick under his jaw.

The Rock-nin flew right off of his feet and landed flat on his back, stunned. A smirk curled Sasuke's lips; he knew that move a little too well. Several nights of going home with a nearly-immovable jaw could attest to that.

Across the arena (having immediately gotten out of his range after the kick), Tenten stood partially doubled over with one hand covering her stomach, blood sliding over her fingers. Now that she was still again, Sasuke could see that she hadn't dodged the Rock-nin's last strike as completely as he had thought, a sizeable cut running across her cheek just under her eye. She either didn't notice it was there or ignored it.

And looking a little closer, he could see why. She wasn't just getting her bearings. Her eyes were trained on her opponent, who was reeling, but certainly not down for the count, and her free hand had reached back and jammed into the pouch at her hip.

When she pulled it back out, she brought with it two identical scrolls.

There was a murmur of recognition from some of the genin who had seen her fight in the previous Exam, and Sasuke quietly reactivated his Sharingan. Only once before had he seen her use this technique, and back then he hadn't known what he was in for. Now that he knew what was coming, he thought it warranted a closer look.

She was already going through her hand seals -  _Tiger, Dragon, Monkey, Hare, Serpent,_ in the blink of an eye; she had improved there too - when her opponent started getting to his feet. He fully righted himself just in time to see the two smoke-born dragons shoot into the air, and immediately got into a defensive stance, his hands locking in the symbol of the Rat.

"Soushoryuu!" Tenten shouted, and Sasuke watched with enhanced eyes as she twisted and soared, her scrolls fluttering all around her.

It wasn't chakra that was keeping her airborne. Even when Sasuke leaned forward a little, zeroing in on her as far as he could, he found nothing visibly keeping her in the air. She was flying with the wings of something else entirely.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised.

Tenten wielded her arsenal with expert precision, somehow managing to make the act of throwing one hundred blades at once with perfect accuracy look as simple as breathing. The blades flashed as one, and in the space of a heartbeat they shot directly toward her opponent, crashing together in a brilliant shower of sparks and smoke.

She landed without a sound, her hand immediately returning to her stomach. An arena full of eyes locked on the place her opponent had stood, now shrouded in the stirred-up dust.

And an arena full of eyes widened when the smoke cleared to reveal the Rock-nin standing exactly where he had been, the same spikes from his palms protruding from his entire body. The only place he had been touched was a scratch near his temple, where it looked like a senbon needle had managed to slip between the spikes.

It was an almost flawlessly-developed bloodline limit. Sasuke's eyes showed him clearly that the guy's chakra had spread itself out just underneath his skin in a thick membrane that forced the spikes out. That was difficult chakra control for any shinobi, much less a teenage genin.

But it took a lot of chakra. It wasn't a trick he could do too many times at once.

Sasuke returned his focus to Tenten and found that she had fallen into the nervous habit of chewing on her lip, sharp eyes calculating while the Rock-nin sneered at her, the spikes withdrawing into his skin. "There's a reason my clan is known as  _Harinezumi_ , the Hedgehog Clan," he said. "You'd be better off giving up now. You can throw a thousand kunai if you want. You can't touch me."

The scratch on the side of his head said otherwise. As did the slight trembling in his hands, proof that the technique took more of a toll on him than he was admitting.

Sasuke glanced back to Tenten again, and sure enough, her eyes were flicking between the two signs of his body's betrayal. With the Sharingan, he could see her thought process almost as clearly as if it were his own: the full-body technique ate up chakra; the Rock-nin would avoid it if he could, which would be easier for him to do if he could see the attack coming, so there should be no warning; if he used it too much, he'd lose too much chakra to access it; and if he couldn't access it, he would be at her mercy.

Sasuke found himself nodding a little in agreement in spite of the fact that they hadn't exchanged even a glance. On the ground, Tenten seemed to reach a silent agreement with herself as well. Then, without a word, she launched herself into the air again, revealing the final secret of the Soushoryuu by summoning her weapons back with a tug on their strings. The Rock-nin frowned at the unexpected development, then let out a snarl and performed the full-body technique again just in time to protect himself from a second barrage of blades.

"Are you stupid or something?" he called to Tenten, but she only pulled them back, pushed off the arena wall with her feet to stay airborne, and hit him with it a third time.

Again, he deflected it; again, she reset the move, pushing off another wall, giving him no time to recover in between.

She was wearing him down. And by the sixth time he was forced to use his technique, making sweat bead on his face and his limbs shake more visibly, he knew it.

"Enough!" he barked the moment he could deactivate the technique, then thrust his palms in her direction before she could pull back her blades. "You think you're the only one who can throw something?  _Hishou Kasui no Jutsu!_ "

As soon as he said the words, the same palm-spikes from before - still bloody, Sasuke noted with a sour taste in his mouth - shot completely out of his hands with shocking speed, aimed directly for Tenten's throat.

But he hadn't counted on the fact that she trained with three of the fastest genin in Konoha. In the blink of an eye, she had brought an extra kunai out of nowhere and deflected every one of the spikes.

In the time it took for shock to open up the Rock-nin's face, Tenten seemed to make a decision. Seizing the opportunity, Sasuke was sure, to use the Soushoryuu on him one last time, now that he was both exhausted and distracted. She couldn't have much chakra left, anyway, not after using it so many times.

But she didn't pull the blades back.

Instead she pushed off the wall once more, fearlessly rubbing her thumb against the still-bleeding cut on her cheek before landing directly before the two scrolls she'd used for Soushoryuu, then slamming her blood-smeared hands down right where the scrolls crossed. All around her, the fallen weapons vanished.

" _Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_ "

Sasuke blinked in confusion.  _Another summons…_  Around him, the other genin had fallen silent, anticipation sending an electric hush through them all.

But the seconds passed, and nothing happened. Sasuke's stomach began to twist. The Rock-nin began to laugh, the slightly hysterical laughter of one who had been expecting the worst. "That's it, huh?" he taunted. "You Konoha girls have even less chakra than…I…"

It was then that the entire arena began to shake.

-

_She beat him to the clearing once. It was a rare thing, as he usually worked on his own for a good half hour before she arrived. Most often she would join him as soon as she was done training with her team, insisting that these marathon training sessions were good for her stamina. That, and it would still be weeks before they would be comfortable enough to really spar again._

_But that day, she was already there. When he parted the brush, he found her in a mess of ink and scrolls, one pen held in her teeth while she brushed careful calligraphy across the parchment with the other._

_He recognized the scrolls as the same two she used for her Soushoryuu, which she had shown him just a few days before. She was altering them somehow._

_When she noticed his presence, she greeted him and then immediately launched into an explanation about how Neji had needed to leave early for a family function and Gai-sensei and Lee were out doing laps around the village and there wasn't any room in her apartment and he didn't mind if she just finished up before they started, did he?_

_Sasuke had only shaken his head and started warming up at the free end of the clearing while she returned to her work. But he couldn't help taking a glance at the scrolls now and then, curiosity overcoming his focus._

_It was another summons. And he could have sworn that among the endless painted symbols, he could just make out a tiny Uchiha fan.  
_

_-_

_("Your chakra control is weak.")_

There was just enough time for Tenten to see the smirk drop from the Rock-nin's face. Then the ground erupted in a thousand blinding flashes of steel.

_("If you keep focusing your chakra in only one area, you'll only limit yourself.")_

Tenten forced her breath to steady, her eyes following him as he launched upward in a desperate attempt to escape. " _Hagane Ryuujin no Jutsu!_ "

_("Maybe someday you'll even be able to use it with your Soushoryuu technique.")_

Hagane Ryuujin, she had named it.  _Steel Dragon._

It exploded out of the ground directly in the Rock-nin's shadow, light glinting off the rows of kunai in its jaws, butterfly-knife claws held tight to its sides while the lines of shuriken running down its back brushed together and created the sound of rain. Tightly woven senbon needles flashed in the form of silver scales, giving it a liquid grace as it rose into the sky under its target, the amber of her chakra burning in its eyes.

Tenten lifted her arms into the air, making the chakra wires glint against her fingers, and directed her creation to shoot up towards her opponent, a scream of metal on metal bursting from its throat as it opened its massive jaws.

No matter that she shouldn't have enough chakra for this, and the amount required for the technique was tugging at her veins, or that her hands were spasming painfully with every movement of her fingers, or that the world was starting to spin while blood had started streaming out of her nose. It meant nothing.

The Rock-nin only had time to open his mouth for a shout before he vanished down the dragon's throat. And Tenten had no doubt that the last thing he saw was the Uchiha symbol, on the little rusted kunai in the middle of the beast's forehead.

But it wasn't over yet.

Tenten stood, burning eyes fastened to her summons as she maneuvered it into the center of the arena. Then she spread her arms apart like a bird, making the dragon's throat expand while she gasped air into furiously-working lungs.

"Heiki Rendan!"

In the same moment that the words left her mouth, she threw her arms across her body, and the creature's weapon-laced gullet slammed inward.

From inside the beast, there was a scream.

Tenten held it there a little longer than she had to, grasping at consciousness, her chakra all used up. It took the last dregs of her strength to lower the dragon towards the ground and part the weapons that made up its belly, releasing the Rock-nin. He lay unconscious after landing, his body embedded with steel, but he was alive; as she had expected, whatever he had left of his technique had protected his vital points. He would live.

The examiner stepped forward in her peripheral vision, and Tenten took a deep breath, interlacing her fingers and releasing the technique.

It was not her will that guided her dragon to give another metallic roar, swooping in a circle around her like a faithful companion before diving headfirst against the ground, collapsing into a small mountain of weapons; she could only think that it was a last trace of wandering chakra that did it. But it was done. The pile of steel vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving only the Uchiha kunai, which she picked up with a shaking hand and slipped into her pocket.

The arena seemed to hold its breath in a stunned silence while the examiner knelt by the Rock-nin, inspecting his condition. At that moment, a tremor ran through Tenten's body from the strain, and she coughed painfully, clutching at her ribs with one hand. That in itself almost sent her to her knees, but then the examiner was straightening, and suddenly it was the single purpose of her existence to hear the next thing to come out of his mouth.

"Hachibara Ringo is no longer able to fight. Winner: Tenten, of Konohagakure!"

No sooner had her mind comprehended the words, than Lee's voice shattered the silence in an ecstatic cheer. Then he was joined by Gai-sensei, then Naruto, and suddenly the entire Konoha section, and those of all their allies, had broken into applause.

For her.

The world blurred again, but this time it wasn't from lack of chakra.

The medics checked her over in a flurry of ointments and bandages, then deemed her well enough to rejoin her team on the balcony. As she ascended the stairs, Tenten found herself fiddling with the kunai in her pocket. Not for the first time, she wondered if it would be going too far to offer it to Sasuke again. Neither of them knew what his opponent's techniques would be like, and unlike herself, he didn't have a scroll full of extra weapons. He would need all the help he could get.

But she was reaching him on the balcony before she could finish mulling over it, and she found that his eyebrows were raised ever so slightly, much like whenever she managed to surprise him in a spar; he was impressed.

"Not bad," he said as she neared him, and she shrugged in a parody of nonchalance.

"Chakra control," she said in a matter-of-fact tone that brought a smirk to his face. "Some jerk told me I was bad at it, so I had to prove him wrong."

"Right."

Grinning, Tenten gave his hand a squeeze in passing. "Good luck out there." He nodded, and then she had passed him, heading for her own team.

He didn't seem to notice her sneaking the kunai into one of his holsters at the last moment. Just in case.

But she didn't have much time to think about it, because it was right about then that her team realized that she had returned.

" _Tenten!_ " Lee cried, and in the next moment he had lifted her completely off the ground and spun her around, pulling a surprised squeak from her throat before she broke into giggles. "That was  _incredible!_ " he gushed on after setting her down. "I have never seen such control in your chakra before! When we return to Konoha, you must allow me to test my skills against that technique!"

"Indeed!" Gai-sensei boomed behind her, beaming with pride. "You have truly blossomed into a splendid Konoha kunoichi!" He punctuated the compliment with a clap on the back that she wasn't quite ready for, sending her flying toward the railing with a yelp, but a pale arm shot out to catch her before she hit the hard metal.

"Be more careful. She's injured," Neji quietly reproached them, keeping his arm there a little longer than he necessarily had to before moving it, leaving a few fingers against her back to keep her steady. How he knew her legs were threatening to give out, she couldn't guess.

"It's okay," Tenten finally spoke up, leaning on the railing more to make his job easier than anything else. "It isn't that bad."

Neji eyed her compulsive grip on the rail, but let that subject drop. "I haven't seen that technique before," he murmured, not loud enough to reach Lee and Gai-sensei's ears.

Tenten shook her head, pride edging into her voice. "Nope. This is the first time anyone has." Then, with a smirk in his direction: "I have to surprise you sometimes, don't I?"

Neji only grunted in return, keeping his eyes forward, and  _was he sulking?_  "…I expect to see it again."

The smirk softened into something genuine. "Count on it."

"I wouldn't celebrate yet."

Tenten turned to see one of the shinobi from Hidden Rain leering at her. Neji's fingers tightened a little against her back. The Rain-nin snorted at whatever look her teammate was giving him, and kept his focus on her. "Or did you forget you weren't the last match? Just thought you'd like a warning that your traitor friend is about to get slaughtered."

He jerked his chin toward the stairwell, and Tenten followed his gaze to find that Sasuke was just disappearing inside, closely followed by his opponent, the pale-haired girl from the Rain-nin's team.

Tenten opened her mouth to defend Sasuke, but the Rain-nin interrupted her with a challenge in his voice. "Why do you think her preliminary opponent forfeited before she even threw a punch? It's because he liked his sanity where it was."

Tenten's eyebrows knitted in an uncomprehending frown. From down in the arena, the examiner stepped forward again.

"Final match. From Hidden Rain, Akumune Seiko. And from Hidden Leaf, Uchiha Sasuke."

-

_The first time they had sparred again, Tenten had been sure she was ready. Enough time had passed with them both out of the hospital that they had been able to recondition their bodies and, she was pretty sure, get their minds past the reason they had been there in the first place. A week of nothing but correcting Sasuke's few tiny flaws with various weapons had made them both restless, and the day had dawned crisp and dry, perfect weather for a quick fight before they parted ways. Needless to say, Sasuke quickly accepted her challenge._

_What she hadn't counted on was the way his limbs would freeze the moment he got a blade in his hand, or the way her lungs would seize up the first time he lunged at her._

_How a well-placed kick would send a trickle of blood from her mouth, and he would immediately look away._

_How a successful grapple would pin him to the ground beneath her, but she would be the one who felt trapped._

_It wasn't like it had been before. They were gaining nothing from it; each strike was only a jolt to the pulse, leaving them spooked and uncertain. When Sasuke's sensei had finally dropped from the trees - the signal that time was up - and quietly suggested that perhaps they keep it to weapons-training for the time being, Tenten's body had slackened under the wave of relief that coursed through her, while from the corner of her eye she saw a little of the color return to Sasuke's face._

_But for her, the satisfaction didn't last. By the time she got home that night, the relief had crumbled under the weight of her frustration with both herself and Sasuke. This was wrong. They weren't supposed to be afraid of each other._

_She had allowed the next couple of weeks to pass without incident. But she'd vowed to herself that she would not let things stay that way._

_A week before they were supposed to leave for Suna, the opportunity came again. They had found a tentative compromise in sparring with weapons only, and she hadn't missed how rarely Sasuke chose anything with a blade. Today, just to spite her, he had picked up a bo staff. She, on the other hand, only stood in the center of the clearing and waited for him._

" _I need to work on my taijutsu," was her only explanation when he sent her a questioning look._

_Sasuke eyed her a little longer than he had to, but didn't protest. He took his place across from her, lowered into a much-improved battle stance for that particular weapon, and then they began._

_Something strange and bold was rising in her. Every blow made her more certain that this would be the day that she put the past behind her. Whether Sasuke would do the same, only this battle would tell._

_She waited until the moment and position was right; then, with a shout of effort, she thrust her palm forward in a move she'd learned from Lee and broke right through the staff. A roundhouse kick knocked the two halves from his hands._

_Normally, if they were disarmed or their weapon destroyed, they would concede that the battle was over. But this time, Tenten kept going._

" _An opponent--won't stop--just because you've been disarmed," she said through her teeth as he threw his arms up to block, something sparking in his eyes. The next few seconds were silent but for the low impacts of skin against skin. He was blocking expertly, but he made no move to hit her back._

_Tenten gritted her teeth. "And they won't ease up," she pressed, swiping a leg out under his feet and then attempting an uppercut (dodged, then blocked), "just because you won't go on the offensive."_

_His eyes narrowed as he avoided another series of blows. "I know that--"_

" _It shouldn't matter who they are!" The frustration that had been building since their first failed attempt at sparring again seeped into her words and movements, propelling every strike to hit harder, faster. She managed to get in a direct hit under his jaw, and he growled, finally taking a swipe at her. Tenten caught his fist and shoved it aside. "You're not trying!" she accused. "You were right before, Sasuke, I_ could _get matched up against Neji in this exam, or Lee--" right hook, dodge, block, "--and you could get matched against Naruto, or Sakura-" butterfly kick into low reverse roundhouse, dodged, repeated palm strikes, blocked, "-or_ me _, Sasuke, and what would you do then, just give up?"_

"No--"

 _"Then_ don't! _" Now she was the one blocking, but every punch was aimed above her shoulders, every kick below her waist. He lunged forward, and memories of flashing blades made her heart thud against her ribs, but she forced them back. They had no place here anymore. "Stop thinking about things that have already happened and_ hit  _me!" she commanded. "Just--"_

_The wind shot out of her lungs when Sasuke's fist finally connected with her stomach, just under her ribs, the area he'd been avoiding from the beginning. It had been too fast for her to block, her hands meeting around his wrist instead of catching the punch, and she pitched forward over his fist, gasping._

_There was a strange, silent moment in which neither of them moved a muscle, utterly frozen. It was only after Tenten had opened her eyes again - she hadn't realized she had squeezed them shut - and found herself alive, and whole, and entirely aware of Sasuke's hand trembling against her stomach, that she breathed again._

_Swallowing, she lifted her head to meet eyes that mirrored the feeling of ice in her veins. Her fingers relaxed around his wrist, and she found to her surprise that she was shaking a little, too. "…See?" she said, refusing to let her voice tremble with the rest of her. "It's okay."_

_Sasuke blinked away the haunted glimmer in his eyes, then slowly pulled back and straightened. She couldn't quite tell if he agreed._

_Stepping back, Tenten took a deep breath. "So…can we do this now?" she asked quietly. When he didn't answer, she lowered a quizzical eyebrow, deciding to give him one last push. "Or are you still too scared?"_

_Sasuke's face opened up with surprise at the unexpected jab, and he just stared at her for a second; then his eyes took on the competitive glint she had been wondering if she would ever see again. He crossed his arms, mirroring her expression. "Who's scared?" he challenged, with a straight face and a note of less than serious danger in his voice that made the corners of Tenten's mouth threaten to turn up._

" _I don't know," she said with feigned innocence. "You tell me."_

_In reply, he lowered back into a combat stance, a sight that made it too hard not to grin. They understood each other now._

_She dropped back into her own stance, then turned her hand to make a beckoning motion. "Your move."_

_He made it._

-

The crowd fell to a hush when his name was called, then broke into a chorus of whispers and murmurs. Sasuke ignored it. He was used to it by now.

He knew very well that word of his attempted escape had spread to the villages of Konoha's allies. He knew why Kakashi-sensei was so quick to take control of any situation that pushed Sasuke too far into the spotlight, and why he was subtly discouraged from speaking to anyone from a foreign village for too long. He knew that the people in those stands had control over his future, and he didn't have their trust.

And he knew that unless he proved himself to them now, his chances of being promoted were very, very slim.

Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps on the stairs beside him, and turned to find that his opponent - a tall, wraithlike kunoichi a few years his senior, with pale hair and cold gray eyes (he was vaguely reminded of Yakushi Kabuto from six months before, and for some reason a knot formed in his stomach) - had fallen into step with him. Even as he looked, she turned her head in his direction and gave him a slow, shameless once-over.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she said. Her voice didn't match her ghostly appearance, coming out smooth and low. He didn't reply to his name, and she didn't press for it, a small, musing smile crossing her lips as she turned to face the front again. "How lucky that I'm matched up against you."

Sasuke's eyebrows lowered, but he faced forward again when they stepped out of the darkness of the stairwell and into the newly-mended arena. He could feel the weight of everyone's gazes on him - some bitter, others wary, and precious few hopeful - as though the force of gravity had doubled in the span of three steps.

"Fighters ready?" the examiner called, and he met the jounin's eyes and nodded. Across from him, his opponent nodded as well, but her eyes remained on Sasuke's. The examiner stepped back.

"Begin."

Sasuke immediately leapt backwards in a trick he'd learned from Tenten, getting just enough distance that he could deal with close- or long-range attacks, and lowered into a stance for combat. He had never seen this girl's techniques before; better to draw them out of her now than to attack her head-on and be too close to react.

But she didn't move. She didn't even prepare to fight. She only stood, and smirked, and lifted her hands into the symbol of the Tiger.

He was only looking at her hands for a second. But when he looked back, the gray eyes, even the whites, were entirely black.

"The story of your clan was added to our history books the year before I graduated our Academy," she said suddenly. "Two weeks is plenty of time to refresh the memory - the  _tragedy_ of the Uchiha clan. And one boy saw it all." Her grin became wicked as she created a small army of clones all around the arena. Sasuke noted the position of every one of them, forcing himself to stay calm even though he really didn't like where this was going. "But I suppose two boys saw it, didn't they? It just happened that one of them was doing the killing." She looked up with an expression that mocked thoughtfulness. "It shouldn't be too hard to bring him here…"

Sasuke had hardly digested that when she brought her hands together in a series of rapid hand seals, ending in the Bird symbol, and looked him directly in the eyes. "Secret Technique: Kyoumu no Jutsu!"

Her chakra swept out faster than he could react, stirring up the dust and sand on the arena floor and temporarily robbing Sasuke of both sight and breath. Immediately he threw his guard up, in case she tried to attack him in the moment his eyes were shut, but the attack never came. His heart thudded strangely as he squinted open his eyes.

Then they went wide.

His mind immediately threw itself into denial that he was seeing what he was seeing, and he cursed his voice for shuddering when he activated the Sharingan to prove himself right.

But his eyes could find no illusion. Hands, feet, clothing, hair, skin,  _eyes_ …

A murmured trapping jutsu in a voice that was painfully familiar, and Sasuke's limbs were stopped. Suddenly one of the new figures was standing directly in front of him, reaching forward  _("Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe another time.")_  and lifting his chin  _(same touch, rough, scar from first Anbu mission how could she know…)_ with a fiendish smirk twisting the soft features  _(like Mother)_  of its face.

"Poor little brother."  _(same voice, soft, "Tsukiyomi" - black red night screams blood falling falling…)_

The red eyes began to change.

_( **Falling** \--)_

"No!" The sound ripped itself out of his throat in a shattered yelp, his heart pounding so fast that he could hardly breathe, and on a panicked instinct his eyes squeezed shut while he tried in vain to make his limbs move.  _It's not real,_  he repeated to himself, but it was getting harder and harder to believe, when this person looked like  _him_ , felt like  _him_ , smelled like  _him (wood, polished steel, blood--)_ , and  _he_  was right here  _right here_  and he couldn't move and  _he_  was going to use  _it_  on him again and he couldn't take that, not again,  _not again_ \--

From behind him, another pair of those murderer's-hands slid over his shoulders and made his mouth go dry.

_(Not again--)_

One of them gripped a blade he knew far too well, coated with the phantom-stains of all the blood it had spilt.

_( **Not again--** )_

And a darkness he hadn't felt in months began to burn at his neck.

-

" _Sasuke, I want you to activate the Sharingan."_

_He blinked a few times, unsure that he'd heard right. "…What?"_

" _I'll keep things under control," his Kakashi-sensei assured him, "but if you plan on using that technique again in the future, you'll need to show it to me now." He held a hand out, prompting Sasuke forward. "Go ahead."_

_Sasuke frowned, but didn't protest, instead swallowing and trying not to think about the last things his Sharingan had witnessed._

" _Sharingan!"_

_When he opened his eyes again, he almost jumped. Suddenly the world around him was unlike anything he had ever seen, with or without the Sharingan. The tiniest details of every leaf and grain of soil leapt out in stark relief; he saw birds flying past before they had even approached the training grounds; the crimson of his sensei's Sharingan eye all but glowed with the intensity of color, hypnotizing him for a moment before the need to blink momentarily broke the spell._

_He hadn't realized. His Sharingan had changed when he'd fought Naruto, but he had been certain that it would have reverted back when the second level of the curse seal, the_ power _, was taken away. He had thought the memories of that fight would remain just that, flashes of consciousness in a mind that wasn't quite his._

_It had never once occurred to him that any of that power could be his own._

" _I see," Kakashi-sensei said softly. He murmured something else, but Sasuke was only half listening, more occupied with making himself dizzy trying to take in everything his eyes were showing him. The silver-white of the sky, his skin pulsing in time with his heart, the blood where Anko had cut him in training--_

_Suddenly a strange nausea came over him, and he quickly deactivated the technique, one hand unconsciously flying to his neck, where the curse seal had started to burn._

_Kakashi-sensei took this in, but kept any thoughts to himself. He didn't ask Sasuke to do it again. But Sasuke doubted that his sensei knew the real reason for his behavior._

_For a moment, he could have sworn he was looking with his brother's eyes._

-

Tenten's fingers dug into the metal railing as she frowned at the sight before her, uncomprehending.  _What…_

Down in the arena, all she could see was Sasuke being held in an entrapment jutsu that he was more than capable of breaking, while the Rain kunoichi was just standing there, holding his chin in a way that he would never let anyone touch him, while one of her clones had proceeded to slip her arms around his chest with a glinting kunai in one hand. She hadn't even tried to hit him, and yet…

Tenten turned helplessly to Neji, but the furrow of his brow showed that he didn't understand it any more than she did. "Is it a genjutsu?" she tried, an inexplicable panic making her stomach churn.

Neji glanced at her, then back to the arena, and silently activated his Byakugan. At the same moment, the Rain-nin at their side shook his head. "I wouldn't do that…"

Tenten almost didn't recognize the sharp gasp that tore out of Neji's throat until he had stumbled back a few steps, immediately deactivating the technique. Her hands instinctively shot out to steady him. "What is it?" she asked, the very real fear in his expression making her heart leap into her throat.

He didn't answer right away, trying to calm his breathing while his eyes darted toward his uncle's seat in the stands, then to Sasuke's opponent. He swallowed hard.

"That can't be what he's seeing."

Tenten opened her mouth to question him further, but was interrupted by a low chuckle to her left. "What's the matter?" the Rain-nin asked, jerking his chin toward Neji. "Your boyfriend get scared?"

Tenten's face pulled into a glower, but he kept talking. "Not that you could blame him, if he caught a glimpse of Seiko's technique."

"What is it?" came Neji's voice from her other side, the calm steadiness returning to it, but the words coming just a little faster than usual; whatever he'd seen had thrown him off balance.

"You saw it and you don't know? I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something." The guy leaned forward to rest his elbows on the railing, moving his eyes to his teammate. "In our village, the Akumune clan is known as the Nightmare Clan. Their jutsu revolves around fear, and they even have scientists who make chemicals for it.

"That gust of air that came out when she said her technique? It wasn't an effect of the chakra. It was a wind jutsu made to target her opponent. My guess is she threw in some of this chemical she's been playing with, that stimulates the part of the brain that triggers a fear response. That way he'd be even more vulnerable to her technique."

"What technique?" Tenten pressed, frustration edging into her voice.

The Rain-nin smirked at her, obviously pleased. "The Akumune are a clan of genjutsu masters. Once they pick a target, they can turn themselves into whatever that target fears most. And I know for a fact that Seiko is getting good at it."

It took Tenten a second to register the full meaning of his words.  _The person Sasuke fears most…_

Her eyes went wide, and she whipped her head around to look at Sasuke again, at the combination of rage and terror and panic in his face, at the curse seal's black tendrils beginning to wind around his neck.

"Oh, no," she said under her breath.

Tearing her eyes away from him, Tenten brought her gaze to rest on his team, right next to hers, where Sakura watched with worried but dry eyes and Naruto was clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood. She knew the moment that Kakashi-sensei saw the curse seal reactivating; she caught the meaningful glance he exchanged with Gai-sensei; she saw them shifting, preparing to stop the fight--

"Wait!" she'd blurted before she could think about it, and both jounin paused to look at her, as well as the rest of both their teams. She moved her gaze between the two before letting it settle on Kakashi-sensei. "…Please, let him try. He can do this, he…"

Feeling her courage waver under the Copy-Ninja's steady gaze, she found herself turning to Naruto for support. Brown eyes locked with blue for several moments; then Naruto's mouth curved into a grin, and he turned to his sensei and nodded. "Yeah. He'll do it," he said, his voice unusually solemn, but with hope in every word. "Just watch him!"

The two jounin exchanged another glance. Tenten looked desperately between them, tension tightening her wearied muscles with every second that passed.

Finally, Kakashi-sensei relaxed his grip on the railing. "I won't make any promises," he addressed both her and Naruto. "If it goes too far, he will need to be stopped."

"It is a cruel technique," Gai-sensei added, frowning down at Sasuke and the Rain-nin. "Keep in mind, Tenten, that the battle may need to be stopped for his sake as well."

Tenten clenched her fists, feeling irrationally betrayed that her sensei would choose now to lose faith, but Neji stepped between them before she could voice it, looking at her so steadily that her entire body stilled in response.

"He isn't in your hands this time."

Any protests she had readied flew from her mind, and she could only stare at him for a second, suddenly feeling desperate and powerless and utterly seen through. Swallowing, she turned back toward the railing, gripping it hard, struck silent in the knowledge that he was right - she wanted nothing more than to race down there and bring Sasuke back, or at least give him the strength to do it himself, one more time.

But she couldn't. And looking at him down there, losing himself in the face of the reason behind every move he'd made, she was starting to wonder, not for the first time, if she had ever really brought him back at all.

-

" _Do you ever regret it?" she asked him one night, with half-frozen earth under their backs and stars reflecting in their eyes._

_He kept his gaze on the sky, remaining so still that for a moment she wondered if he'd fallen asleep. Finally he shifted, his voice coming out softer than she had ever heard it._

" _Sometimes."_

_He didn't ask whether she meant regret for running away, or for coming back.  
_

_-_

_He_  was telling him to give up.

No…not  _him_. Sasuke's mind was utterly certain of that, but his racing heart and trembling, sweating limbs refused to listen. That kunoichi…she was doing this, somehow, she--

The cold fingers under his chin spread to grip his jaw hard and jerk it upward, forcing him to meet the gaze that haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

This time he forced them to stay open, even as the black  _mangekyou_  began to spin, making his lungs quiver and a lump form in his throat. He kept them open and pumped as much chakra into his own Sharingan as he could bear, because he had to prove to his treacherous body that  _this was not real, it was_ _ **not--**_

The curse seal throbbed at his neck, shattering his silent mantra. It seared through his skin, his system, his mind, pushing black chakra through his limbs and twisting his thoughts  _no matter who this was, he could destroy them so completely that they would see_ _ **his**_ _eyes in their nightmares_ even as one last part of him fought the darkness back  _not this time, not after everything, not after Naruto, not after--_

"Will you give up?"  _his_ clone repeated, and Sasuke shuddered at the warm breath on his ear  _(You lack hatred--)_ , at the gleam of metal from the katana as the clone at his back forced him closer to the other one, the real one  _ **no,**_ _not real, can't be real, can't…_

Sasuke took a shaking breath. "No."

No sooner had he said it than the clone behind him whipped the blade of the katana around Sasuke's front to lock against his throat  _(the same way Father died God this can't be real)_ , biting into his skin. The one holding his jaw brushed a thumb across his cheek in such a sickening parody of affection that the entrapment jutsu actually wavered under his struggles to pull away.

"Then you choose for this to continue,"  _he_  said. The blade pressed harder against his neck. "You choose to die, like the rest of them."

" _No_ \--" he forced out through gritted teeth, cold sweat running down his back. This wasn't real, it  _wasn't real_ , he just had to find the weakness, his eyes could  _do_  it, he just--

A pale fist slammed into Sasuke's stomach so hard that he choked, held back from doubling over by the blade across his throat. Then  _he_  leaned forward, keeping his fist buried there under Sasuke's ribs and making it impossible to breathe. Sensing his body's panic, the curse seal continued slowly snaking outward, starting to curl around his arms  _no, not now, not again…_

The voice of his nightmares spoke to him from both sides, one against each ear  _("You're not even worth killing--"),_ and the curse seal reached his fingertips, and his eyes burned - "This is what you choose," they whispered - and the blade flashed, and  _there_ \--

A flicker. Sasuke's eyes went wide, and through his Sharingan he saw the katana flicker again, betraying its identity as nothing but a kunai,  _it wasn't real, there was proof, it wasn't real!_

The realization rushed through his blood like electricity, shooting fire to his limbs and sending the shadows of the curse seal rapidly retreating, and with a surge of adrenaline he tore straight through the entrapment jutsu. " _No!_ "

He wrenched his elbow back as the word left his mouth, slamming it into the shocked clone's gut and making it vanish in a cloud of smoke. The exposed kunai went flying, and one swift motion Sasuke grabbed it out of the air, lunged forward, and shoved the blade straight into the first Itachi's chest.

Something lurched in him at the sight of his brother's face showing an expression of such unbridled shock, but then the face vanished in another cloud. So they had both been clones.

He hardly had time to take it in before instinct had him throwing down a smoke bomb and launching off the ground, just in time for a hail of senbon needles to collide with each other where he had been standing. All at once, his mind shifted into the comfortable familiarity of combat mode, detaching from the situation even as his limbs continued to shake. His eyes swept over the ground while he was airborne, taking a quick inventory.  _Thirty clones…no, twenty-nine, and then the real one._

A barrage of kunai shot out of the smoke, exploding tags fluttering and flaming in their wake, but a well-aimed shuriken cut directly through the wires connecting them to the blades, leaving the tags to explode harmlessly in the air and throw the kunai off their trajectory. Sasuke only let himself touch the ground for a moment before leaping upward again, his hands flying through a series of seals as he concentrated his chakra to his lungs. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

He hardly noticed the burn as he shot a rain of fireballs from his mouth in all directions. From the clearing smoke below, he heard the familiar  _pop_  of vanishing clones.

But the satisfaction didn't last; out of nowhere, a cloaked pair of arms shot around him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. In front of him, another mirror of his brother leapt into the air, hands positioned in the Bird seal again. Sasuke gritted his teeth.  _Not this time._

With a growl of effort, he pitched forward in the air, turning both himself and the clone upside-down just in time to use the clone as a shield against the jutsu. Just as the clone vanished, though, a blast of air stopped his breath for a moment, just like when the battle had begun.

Sasuke cursed under his breath. A third clone had done it, striking while he was distracted with the first two.

Suddenly his heart started hammering against his ribs, an inexplicable terror seizing his lungs. He landed hard on the ground, his mind reeling, and looked up just in time for his Sharingan to show him just what had happened: it was a targeted wind jutsu. And it was laced with something he couldn't identify.

He swallowed hard, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Was he being drugged?

An alarm went off in his mind, and he just managed to roll out of the way before another clone struck the ground in a kick powerful enough to make it crack, then leapt back in time to throw his arms up in a block. They were all around him now, preventing any form of escape.

It took pure force of will for Sasuke to make his hands stop shaking enough to form the seals to create two clones of his own, then left them to perform a back-to-back Goukakyuu no Jutsu while he leapt out of the circle, thrusting his hand into his hip pouch and pulling out a roll of wire. Coming to land on the wall, he pulled out the windmill shuriken he carried on his back and connected it to the wire in a single motion.

From his vantage point, it looked like his own clones had already been taken out, but had taken a number of his opponent's clones down with them. Swallowing the unnatural panic that was making it hard to focus, he let the windmill shuriken fly directly across the arena. All of the clones in its path easily dodged, which was fine-they were exactly where he wanted them.

Gripping the wire tight, Sasuke shot from his position, sprinting across the wall while a volley of blades flew in his wake. Small bursts of fire against his arms and back told him that not all of them were missing their target, but he kept his eyes forward. Finally, when he had circled the arena at least twice, he abandoned his path and pushed himself into the air, pulling the wire taut and holding it in his teeth while he conjured a fire jutsu with his hands. Down below, the tightened wire had successfully trapped a good number of the clones against each other - perfect. He breathed in, then blew out, and a line of flames shot down the wire and engulfed the trapped clones in a spectacular blaze that Sasuke could feel even from his position in the air.

He didn't even sense the presence rising behind him until his back had slammed into the ground, stars exploding in front of his eyes. In the next second, something came down hard on his stomach, sending blood up his throat and out his mouth.  _No…!_

His arms flew up to catch the next kick before it could make contact. The other clones landed all around him from where they had dodged the wire trap; ten left. The one on top of him leapt back, and Sasuke jumped back to his feet just in time to be thrown back against the arena wall, pale fingers squeezing his throat while they held him there, his feet barely touching the ground.  _(Just like before NO, not like before, this isn't him--)_

Just as his lungs began to panic, Sasuke tore a kunai out of its holster and stabbed it into the clone's arm. It vanished - but in the same moment, a third burst of air hit him from the side, just in time for him to gasp it into his burning lungs. His eyes widened when he realized his mistake.

But it was too late. Whatever she'd put into the wind jutsu acted immediately, hitting him so hard this time that he staggered back against the wall, one hand flying to his chest; this was wrong, it was too much, his heart was beating too fast--

It was the abnormal terror pumping through him that propelled him to dodge a strike to the face, but he couldn't make himself attack the clone back. At the sight of the rapidly-spinning  _mangekyou_  in his brother's eyes, his body wanted nothing more than to run away.

The clone grabbed him by the throat while he was still fear-frozen and threw him into the center of the arena, and he had to bite down hard on his tongue to keep from screaming as the icy dread twisted the nine images of his brother into nightmarish phantoms that were all too real.  _I can't do this, not against_ him--

Then there were bruising, breaking strikes coming from all sides, and  _his_  face kept appearing before his eyes, and he couldn't breathe through the panic that was making him claustrophobic - he had to get out, he had to, or…

A shameful, terrified sound escaped his throat, and he launched into the air in a last attempt to get away. Some of the clones immediately followed him, while the rest stayed on the ground, just  _waiting_ , waiting to--

His thoughts quieted when his frantically searching gaze came to rest on the arena's balcony. On a pair of wide brown eyes that managed to calm him even now.

_Wait…_

Suddenly his mind sprang into motion, and he whipped his head around to take in the positions of the clones - some in the air, some on the ground, God, he could…

It was a last hope. And he clung to it.

Still suspended in the air, with pale specters of his past closing in all around him, and under the eyes of the only people in his life who mattered, he arched his back until his feet were pointed toward the sky. The last of his kunai found their way into his hands, and he fanned them out between his fingers, letting them flash in the light before he allowed his eyes to slip shut.

_("If all you care about is the center of that target, then you won't get any farther than you are now.")_

He let three blades fly.

_("Even if you do succeed in getting revenge, the only thing that remains is emptiness.")_

His body twisted, and he sent out another three. His hands reached for his last two kunai.

_("I'm sick of you trying to pretend you're not one of us anymore!")_

It felt different this time, letting them go. Something had changed, something that had nothing to do with the drug that was making him breathe too fast.

His feet touched down in complete silence, punctuated only by the eight  _pop_ s of the defeated clones, and the world started turning again. Sasuke opened his eyes and lifted his head, looking around. All that remained of the clones were eight clearing clouds of smoke.

He had done it.

But as he thought about it, his face pulled into a frown.  _Eight_ … _but…that means the real one is--_

The ground crumbled at his feet, and blind terror gripped in Sasuke's chest when the last figure rose up like a vengeful ghost, the kunai glinting in its hand as it lunged for its prey. Sasuke's hand automatically flew to his own kunai holster, though he knew beyond doubt that it would be empty--

His fingers closed around steel.

In the time it took for Sasuke's heart to drop a beat at the realization, he had grasped whatever miraculous weapon he had been given and shot his arm up in front of him, sending out a shower of sparks as metal ground against metal. His brother's face twisted with rage, an expression Sasuke had never seen there before.

_Because it wasn't real._

It was that knowledge alone that gave Sasuke the strength to ignore the cold sweat still pouring down his skin, and the way his chest was screaming at him from the drug speeding his pulse enough to make him dizzy and nauseous, and the lump that rose again in his throat with the illusion of being so close to the one man he hated and feared most. It was that knowledge that empowered him to reverse their positions through brute strength alone, slamming his opponent's back against the ground and sending their kunai flying from their hand with a quick circular motion.

And it was that knowledge that stilled his hand at his opponent's throat, when he recognized the tiny Uchiha fan engraved on the handle of his blade.

The arena had fallen deathly silent. With every fiber of his being, Sasuke desired no more at that moment than to add just a little more pressure to the blade across the impostor's throat, letting her life be snuffed out for what she had done. He could do it. Both of them knew it; his brother's body had frozen, utterly trapped, fear brightening the bloodred eyes and turning his face into that of a stranger.

Sasuke's hand shook.  _It would be so easy._

Instead, he looked straight into the eyes that made it even harder to breathe. "Break the genjutsu," he said through clenched teeth. Thin eyebrows drew together, and the body below him tensed in preparation for an escape attempt. Sasuke put a stop to it before it could begin by pressing down just a little harder with the blade, drawing blood from just under the skin. "Break it!" he barked, and this time he received only a murderous glare before his opponent obeyed.

Uchiha Itachi's raven hair and crimson eyes faded to silver and gray, and Akumune Seiko stared back at him, unsure how far he planned to go.

_God, it would be so easy…_

Sasuke swallowed hard, forcing himself to focus through the effects of the drug she'd given him, and kept the blade where it was. "Now give up."

Her eyes widened, and his Sharingan showed him the struggle behind them, the impulse to refuse, and then the realization that there was no other option.

They showed him the utter hatred she felt when she spoke the words, just loud enough for the examiner to hear. The jounin asked no questions; he only turned toward the stands.

"Akumune Seiko has forfeited the match. Winner: Uchiha Sasuke, of Konohagakure!"

It took a painful amount of effort to make himself stand, finally releasing the kunoichi. He didn't look at her when she got to her feet and left the arena. The effect of the drug hadn't stopped with her genjutsu, and the world had started to spin again, making his stomach roil dangerously - too dangerously, he realized, and vanished from under the medics' hands, bursting through the nearest washroom door and all but throwing himself into one of the stalls just in time for his stomach to heave.

Now that the adrenaline of battle was waning, whatever was in his system was being allowed to work at its full potency, making unjustifiable tears sting the backs of his eyes while his heart kept pounding so fast that he wondered if too much of that drug could trigger a heart attack. For what felt like a long time, he just stayed in the stall, clutching the bowl with hands that wouldn't stop shaking, and tried to breathe, though he only succeeded in shuddering gasps.

He forced himself to stand up again when he felt too much time had passed, flushing the toilet and leaving the stall to at least get some water down his throat. When he stepped out, he was both surprised and not surprised to see Kakashi-sensei standing there, offering him his canteen and a palm-sized vial of something else.

Sasuke looked at the vial, then at his teacher. "What is it?" he asked between still-quivering breaths.

"It should help," was his only reply.

Sasuke eyed him a little longer, but accepted, forcing his hands to be still long enough to down it in one shot. Immediately he grimaced at the taste, fighting another gag-reflex, and snatched his canteen from his sensei's outstretched hand.

"It would seem your opponent subjected you to a bit of an overdose," Kakashi-sensei commented while Sasuke drank down half the water in his canteen at once. "An effective drug, but a dangerous one. Her teammate said it stimulates the body's response to fear."

Sasuke finally pulled the canteen from his lips, already breathing a little easier, and nodded. "I guessed."

"I'm sure you did." His sensei leaned back against the counter while Sasuke shakily splashed some water on his face. "But you handled it very well," he went on. Sasuke paused. "It's a drug sometimes used in interrogation rooms, and I've seen more than one chuunin officer crack after only two doses. That you could focus enough to successfully finish a battle-without any unnecessary killing, no less-is very impressive."

Sasuke kept his eyes downward and let the water run, silently amazed at how his teacher always seemed to know exactly what was in his mind and, more and more often, how to cure it.

"Now, now," Kakashi-sensei chided after a moment, reaching around Sasuke to turn off the faucet. "This is a desert village, Sasuke. No need to waste water. And you can stop thanking me for the compliment now, really, it's embarrassing."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, finally feeling a little more like himself as Kakashi-sensei fondly planted a hand on top of his head just to see him cringe. "Well!" his teacher said cheerfully. "You seem to be feeling better, so shall we?" Sasuke nodded, indignantly straightening out his hair before letting his sensei transport the both of them back up to the balcony.

They arrived in a flurry of wind and leaves, and Sasuke just had time to hear his name before there was a flash of pink hair and a pair of arms throwing themselves around his neck. He was only knocked off balance for a second before connecting that it was Sakura - who had been carefully avoiding his gaze ever since that day at the hospital - and let himself relax a little.

Over her shoulder, his eyes locked with blue for a moment before she let go and stepped back, leaving him to face the one person he hadn't been able to truly face since the day he was brought back.

At length, Naruto grunted and crossed his arms. "That was stupid," he declared. "You were so scared that you didn't even use Chidori! And she didn't use half as many clones as I did!"

Sasuke watched him carefully for a moment. Then he scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Like you could have done better," he muttered. "You would have been crying like a baby, moron."

Naruto's eyes widened. Then a smile played at his lips for just a second before he thrust an arm out to point at Sasuke. "Yeah, right! I would have beaten that girl before she could even use her stupid jutsu, and you know it!"

"How, by talking her to death?"

"Wha--you-- _hey!_ Where do you think you're going?"

Sasuke had already turned from his team, and tossed back over his shoulder, "I have to return something."

He reached Team Gai's place on the balcony in a few steps, gripping the kunai in his pocket. An unreadable glance from Hyuuga was his first greeting, quickly followed by a hearty congratulations from Rock Lee, and it was the latter that caught the attention of his reason for being there in the first place.

It only took a moment for Tenten's eyes to widen. "Sasuke…"

Then he was nearly stumbling backwards when she pushed away from the railing and threw her arms around him, pulling him close in the first hug she had ever given him. "You were amazing," she murmured into his shoulder, and something quivered in him, like and unlike what the drug had done to him. Of their own accord, his arms drifted up to hesitantly return the embrace; then they grew bolder, his fingers closing around the fabric of her shirt, just like they had the morning he had awakened at her side. That strange feeling of safety came back to him as though her touch had summoned it, and against his better judgement he let himself cling to her for just a moment, his eyes slipping shut.

Then the moment had passed, and she had stepped back while Hyuuga Neji looked between them with a strange expression on his face. Clearing his throat, Sasuke pulled out the rusted kunai and offered it to her, handle-out. "I just came to give this back."

Tenten looked between him and the kunai with eyes that were suddenly unreadable. Then she reached out and gently pushed his hand back. "It's yours, Sasuke."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she had already turned her focus to the examiner below, who was explaining the procedure for awarding Chuunin ranks and vests. Sasuke frowned at her, then at the blade in his hand, the blade that had saved and nearly destroyed them both.

He didn't put it away again, but kept it gripped loosely in his hand. Just for now.

-

"So we have to wait a whole  _week_  to find out who made Chuunin?!"

"Not so loud, Naruto!"

"Naruto-kun, I too find it highly unfavorable, but we must view it as a test of our patience and ability to restrain our youthful anticipation! Right, Gai-sensei?"

"Indeed! I could not have stated it more eloquently myself!"

" _Really?!_ "

"Lee, not now…"

Tenten groaned sleepily at the conversation that seemed to have pulled her from a surprisingly restful slumber - at least considering that she was crammed in a transport back to Konoha with both her team and Sasuke's - and attempted to bury her face against whatever she was resting her head on, determined to stay asleep.

Her eyes popped open, though, when the thing pillowing her head shifted a little under her, all by itself.

"Ah! Forgive me, Tenten, I did not mean to disturb you!" Lee cried from her other side, but she waved a dismissive hand, rubbing her eyes as she straightened up to see just whose space she'd been invading.

"Oh--sorry," she murmured to Neji, heat rising to her face. "You could have moved me if you wanted…" But he only shook his head, keeping his gaze directed out the transport's one small window. She followed it, and was surprised to find a stream of sunlight coming through; she was sure it had been dark when she'd fallen asleep. "Where are we?" she asked, her voice still crackling from sleep.

"Almost halfway," Neji replied, and she groaned again, digging her fingers through her bangs.

"Did I miss anything?" she asked mid-yawn, and Neji sent a sidelong glance toward where Lee and Naruto had gotten into another animated conversation - this time concerning New Year's plans, as they were to arrive in Konoha roughly on the morning of New Year's Eve - while Gai-sensei jumped in here and there and Sakura clapped a hand over her face in surrender.

"Nothing worth mentioning," he muttered.

Tenten couldn't help but grin at the scene. Her eyes traveled over the two teams - over Neji and Lee, alive and strong, and Naruto in higher spirits than ever, and Sakura, who had grown more in two months than anyone had imagined.

And Sasuke…

The grin softened a little. Sasuke seemed to have had the same idea as herself: he was dead to the world now, his breathing soft and slow, tipped a little against his sensei and completely undisturbed by the noise from Naruto and Lee.  _Lucky,_  she thought wryly, but couldn't bring herself to hold it against him.

"After the finals…" Tenten turned to find that Neji's eyebrows had lowered a little, his gaze lingering on Sasuke before returning to her. "What was it that he tried to give you? That kunai?"

"Oh…well, that…ah…" Tenten bit her lip in thought, unsure if she was capable of explaining the real significance of the blade without somehow betraying Sasuke's trust. She didn't know what made her think that, but it was there nonetheless. "…It's more complicated than this," she said finally, resisting the urge to look at her feet and instead making herself meet his eyes, "but…well…it was the kunai."

There was a brief, uncomprehending silence while she allowed Neji to read her expression. She knew he had found her meaning when the furrow of his brow deepened. "You mean the kunai he used when…" She nodded to confirm it, automatically crossing her arms over her stomach again, a habit she hadn't quite managed to break. Neji eyed the movement, then her. "Why did he have it?"

"Because I gave it to him."

"Why?"

"Because I thought he might need it," she said simply. "And he did, didn't he?"

"That isn't the point."

"There's a point?" Neji shot her an irritated look, which she mocked right back at him. "Don't worry about it, Neji. Really. I won a battle in the Chuunin Exam final tournament, didn't I?" she added, nudging him with her elbow. "I think I proved I can take care of myself."

Neji only grunted back at her, seeing that she didn't plan on cooperating. "You haven't mentioned the part where you passed out for twenty hours as soon as we boarded this transport."

"I did not!" He looked at her in deadpan silence, and she found herself sinking a little. "…Twenty? Really?"

He nodded. She winced. "That's embarrassing…I hope your arm didn't go numb or anything…"

"I stopped noticing eventually."

Tenten gasped, sitting bolt upright. "You mean it did? Neji, you didn't have to…" But she cut herself off at the sight of a smirk playing at his lips. The alarm in her face quickly morphed to spite, and she smacked him in the arm - provoking a small huff of amusement - before slumping back in her seat. "Jerk."

"What about you, Tenten?" Lee piped up to her left, and she sent him a blank look, having completely tuned out the other conversation going on. "Will you join Gai-sensei and myself in a celebratory fifty laps around Konoha for the first dawn of the new year?!"

He looked absolutely enthralled by the idea. Tenten forced an apologetic smile and hoped it didn't look like a grimace. "Ah…sorry, I wish I could, but unfortunately I already have plans." She shrugged. "Maybe next year?"

"Ah, I see! And you, Neji?"

"Family function," he said without batting an eye. "Required."

"Ah, well!" Gai-sensei burst in from Lee's other side. "It looks like it will just be you and me, and the brilliance of the Konoha sunrise!"

"I can hardly wait!"

Tenten sighed, shaking her head while Lee tried to drag Naruto and Sakura into their plans, their sensei chortling behind his book and pretending not to notice. She didn't really feel bad for lying - she knew Lee and Gai-sensei would enjoy themselves just fine if she wasn't there - but she also knew that Neji had been telling the truth, having spent his New Year's Eves at the Hyuuga estate even while he was in the Academy.  _Looks like it's going to be another quiet New Year…_

But that was all right. She would be spending the next full day and a half with the people she cared about, after all.

"Sakura-san! Before my courage fails me - I would be most honored if you would accompany me to the New Year's Festival, that we may experience the joy of a new beginning side-by-side!"

"Wha--hey! No way, Fuzzy-Brows, Sakura-chan is going with _me_  to the festival, so back off!"

"Who said I was going with  _either_  of you?"

"Ah, the blooming radiance of young love!"

Whether she liked it or not.

-

It was a quiet, nameless hour of New Year's morning, and for the first time in four months, Uchiha Sasuke was alone.

The unexpected freedom had come at him so fast that he hadn't had time to prepare for it; following Kakashi-sensei had almost become second nature by now. It had thrown him off balance, for his teacher to put his trust in him so suddenly.  _("Come now, I'm sure you have better things to do than spend New Year's with old fogies like me." A blank stare, answered by a much more meaningful gaze. "I'm sure you know what will happen if you get into any trouble." Realization that he's actually serious; a far too cheerful expression. "Well then, that takes care of that! Eight a.m. curfew, just for the holiday. Now, if you don't mind, I have to hide now.")_

He had vanished just in time for Tenten's sensei to appear and ask after him, to which Sasuke could honestly say he didn't know.

And then he was on his own.

He must have stood there for a full two minutes before finally looking around and, for the first time in what felt like forever, deciding where he wanted to go.

Eventually he settled on going home first, just as a matter of course. A not-so-thin layer of dust had accumulated over the furniture in his absence, leaving the pads of his fingers a solid gray when he absently righted the team photo next to his bed. From there, he had wandered through the rooms he hadn't already closed off, not really sure just what he'd planned to accomplish.

In the end, the only thing he did there - at least, the only thing he felt was worth anything - was to come across the kunai Tenten had returned to him, turn it over in his hands for a long while, and then finally lay it down right next to the picture of his team. It wasn't made to see any more battles.

And it would remind him.

At length, he had left and taken to the rooftops. Usually the mechanical motions of crossing the village that way helped him to clear his mind.

But it was cold outside, and his mind was already fairly clear, if aimless. Finally he had stopped atop a tall apartment complex just to think, and silently acknowledged that he had no idea what to do with himself.

Fortune, it seemed, decided to answer that for him.

"Sasuke?" Blinking to attention, Sasuke followed the voice to see that, of all people, Tenten had poked her head out of a top-floor window. She looked just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. "What are you doing up there?"

"What are  _you_  doing?"

She lifted an amused eyebrow at him. "I live here. What's your excuse?"

He didn't have one, so he just muttered something about boredom. It wasn't exactly a lie, but Tenten eyed him as though it was, then frowned and swept her gaze over the surrounding rooftops. "…Are you alone?"

Sasuke stared at her for a second before realizing that she hadn't seen him without Kakashi-sensei nearby in almost four months. He nodded, and her face lit up. "Sasuke, that's great!" Then she paused, seeming to come to her own realization. "Oh--but I bet you want to be by yourself for a while, since you couldn't for so long, don't you…I can pretend I didn't see you, if you want?"

The complete sincerity in her suggestion made the corner of Sasuke's mouth twitch up, and he shook his head. "It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. If Tenten had a reaction, it was cut off by a shrill whistling sound from inside her apartment, prompting her to take a glance in before leaning out again.

"Well, I've got some tea on the stove, if you want some," she offered. "It's freezing out here."

Sasuke only considered for a moment before accepting the invitation, dropping down to the windowsill after she'd stepped back. "It isn't that cold."

"Easy to say for the guy who breathes  _fire_."

Sasuke couldn't suppress a smirk as he finished climbing in, but it faltered a little when he took a glance around.

Suddenly he wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that she had seen his place first; her entire apartment was easily the size of his bedroom. Even Naruto's apartment was bigger than this.

"Sit down wherever you want," Tenten said, shutting the window behind him and taking his discarded shoes to the doorway before he could do it himself. "Sorry it's a mess, I haven't really unpacked yet…"

It wasn't a mess. In fact, the more he looked around, the more strangely inviting her tiny apartment seemed. With decorative weapons mounted on the walls, an old poster of Tsunade-sama above her futon, and a hopelessly scribbled-upon calendar - looking closer, he saw that she'd been marking her training schedule with either a blue 'N,' a red 'S,' or the occasional green 'L' in the corner of every other day - he would have known who this place belonged to even if he hadn't seen her.

"Here," Tenten said, interrupting his observations by setting a steaming cup in front of him. "I hope green tea is okay. I'm trying to stay awake for sunup." He nodded, and they lapsed into a strangely comfortable silence. (Sasuke decided not to admit that he may have been colder than he thought, and that the hot drink felt like it was bringing him back from the dead.)

"So," Tenten piped up again after a moment, "what did you guys do at the festival?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Watched Naruto get himself drunk off the ceremonial  _sake_."

Tenten narrowly avoided spitting out a mouthful of tea when a laugh bubbled out of her. "Lee tried to get some too, 'for the sake of tradition,'" she said, doing a frighteningly accurate impression of her teammate before shaking her head. "Neji and I had to tackle him and sit on him." Sasuke snorted, and she went on, "And then, right before midnight, Gai-sensei decided he  _had_  to find your sensei to challenge him at…I don't even remember what it was, but he ran off, then Lee ran off after him, and that's the last I saw of them. Where is Kakashi-sensei, anyway?"

"Hiding." She chuckled, and he tried not to be bothered by the fact that she didn't continue the story through midnight, while she and her last remaining teammate had been alone. "I don't know where he went."

"That's probably better for everyone," she assured him, and he lifted his cup in agreement.

They finished their drinks slowly, talking in short bursts and falling into easy silences, more to while away the time and keep each other awake than anything else. By the time Sasuke had finally reached the bottom of his cup, a glance at the alarm clock by her futon told him that it was later than he'd thought. Dawn would be coming soon.

When Tenten saw the time for herself, she immediately decided that it was late enough to go to the roof and wait, but he had hardly gotten up when she stopped him. "Ah--hold on a second." He obeyed - it was her apartment, after all - and leaned back on the wall, idly taking in the mediocre view from the window while she rifled through some of her things. "Here," she finally said.

He just had time to look up before a blanket was thrown over his head, blinding him for a second. By the time he had batted his way out from under it, Tenten was already opening the window, and she glanced back long enough for him to glare at her. "I said I wasn't cold."

"Say whatever you want. You're in short sleeves!"

Sasuke blinked for a second, overwhelmed by a memory of his mother telling him the same thing when he was still proudly wielding his wooden practice kunai, so consumed with running after his brother to the training grounds that he'd neglected to grab a jacket. But the strangest part was that the memory didn't darken his spirits as thoughts of his childhood usually did; the ache was still there, but it wasn't a good or bad memory. It just was. It had been a long time since he'd had a memory like that.

"Tch." Outwardly, he only made a point of tossing the blanket back at her, though she caught it before she could get lost under it like he did.

"Fine," she said after shooting him a look. "See if I care when you don't show up for training for a week because you've got pneumonia."

"Fine."

" _Fine._ "

"Are you going up there or not?"

"We'd be up there already if you weren't being such a baby."

"Then why are you the one still arguing about it?"

" _You_ \--" Finally Tenten let out her breath in aggravation, throwing the window open so hard that the glass shook. Just before she disappeared through it, Sasuke had to fling his hands up to keep from being hit in the face with the blanket again. "Brat."

Sasuke only tossed it aside, then followed her with a satisfied smirk on his face.

The stars were completely covered by clouds when he joined Tenten back on the roof, the sky graying with the approach of dawn. She had already settled on the edge of the building, sitting a little boyishly, with one knee pulled to her chest while the other one dangled over the edge. She eyed his still-bare arms when he sat down.

"Hm, those aren't goosebumps I'm seeing, are they,  _Uchiha-san?_ "

"No."

She finally cracked then, a quiet laugh finding its way out of her, and her mock annoyance with him vanished. Sasuke watched from the corner of his eye as she turned her gaze to the horizon and seemed to lose herself in thought for a little while.

It was…strange, he thought, how much everything had changed and somehow stayed the same. The first time he had spoken to Tenten, it had been because she had reminded him of Itachi. Then his mother, then his father, and then…

He could still see them in her now. He had seen this expression on his mother sometimes as a child, when he was just starting to realize that parents could have secrets, and wondered what she was seeing; like his father, she had a strange silence around her right now, a silence that spoke of possibility, of a future that no one else could see.

And Itachi…

"Sasuke, do you think you made it?"

He pulled away from the thought. "Made what?"

"Chuunin," she said, looking at him as though amazed that he thought she could be talking about anything else. "I know we don't technically find out until later this week, but I want to know what you think."

Thinking about it, Sasuke found he honestly had no idea, and told her as much in a shrug. "They only picked one last year."

"But last year was such a fiasco, though, remember?"

Sasuke stifled the urge to slip his fingers over his curse seal. "I remember."

She looked at him as if expecting him to say more, but when he didn't, she let him keep his silence. Instead of asking, she looked out over the tops of the buildings, pulling her leg up to warm her hands under her knees. "I think you will," she said softly.

Sasuke didn't move, unsure how to respond to the unexpected show of faith, until a trace of light caught his eye, prompting him to look up. On the horizon, the first rays of sunlight had begun to spread above the skyline.

Tenten noticed it a second after he did, her eyes immediately brightening while the almost-somber mood of a moment before seemed to be carried away by the wind. "Here we go," she said, grinning. "Got a wish?"

Sasuke snorted and shook his head. "You actually do that?"

"You  _don't?_ "

The rising sun captured her attention again before they could get into any sort of debate, and Sasuke rolled his eyes, looking at it again for lack of anything more interesting to watch. Better not to press the subject, anyway; he didn't feel like lying about how he really had followed the tradition for his whole life. But it had lost the childhood magic it had once possessed. That was mostly due to the fact that ever since he was eight years old, he had always made the same wish.

This year, he made two.

He didn't notice that he had closed his eyes until a surprised sound from Tenten made him open them again. It took him a second to see what she was looking at. It was only when a touch of cold wetness landed on his forehead that he realized that the gathering clouds had finally opened up, releasing tiny flakes of snow.

"You know, there's another thing they say about New Year's," Tenten said, seemingly mystified by the whirling snowflakes. "That if it snows at dawn, a spirit heard your wish."

After a second, she lowered her eyes with a self-deprecating smile. "But I guess you wouldn't believe in that one either, huh…"

_(Half-lost in a sea of drifting white, while confusion creeps at the sight of the family elders giving praise. "Niisan, what are they doing?"_

_Cool hands lifting him higher, to better see the sunrise. "It's a superstition. They believe the gods will grant them what they prayed for, and they're thanking them for it."_

_Turning and turning it over in his mind. "…Are they going to grant what you prayed for, too?"_

_He breathes, and says nothing.)_

The rays of the rising sun were beginning to part the clouds, creating pale beams that turned the falling snow into a mirror of the fading stars.

His answer came out as though it were a released breath. "…I don't know."

Tenten looked at him for a long while, then smiled a little, and it felt like she had touched him even though her hands were still clasped under her knees. "Liar," she said softly, and the ghost of a grin touched his lips.

They were silent after that, letting the morning open up around them while the reflections of a thousand tomorrows glinted in the falling snow.

-

_She didn't look away when he met her gaze, his face briefly obscured by the blowing sand. "…What?"_

_She smiled a little, then shook her head. "Nothing."_

_It was a lie, and she suspected he knew it, but it would be all right to let him wonder. She didn't want to frighten away the person he was right now, the person he was still working so hard to become, by answering that she had just seen something in him that she had never seen there before. It had come through for just a moment, when his eyes were closed, his face turned toward the sky._

_For no reason and every reason, she reached over and ruffled his hair without looking at him, making him flinch, shoot her a look, then roll his eyes without questioning her. She didn't mind. Because no matter what tomorrow would bring, she could hold on to that image, knowing exactly what she had witnessed, peering through from someplace that no one could really name:_

 

_Hope._

 

~*~

_**Fin** _

~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, first of all, to my beta [Clawbane](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/647326/Clawbane), and to everyone who read and reviewed this story on Fanfiction.net when I originally posted it back in the day.
> 
> Other shout-outs:
> 
> \- [VioletVolchok](http://violetvolchok.deviantart.com/), for her gorgeous [fanart](http://www.deviantart.com/art/Close-183688195) for this story!
> 
> \- [SunRises6](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1977399/), who is currently in the process of translating _this entire beast_ into Vietnamese on [VNSharing.net](http://vnsharing.net/forum/showthread.php?t=670114) and [WordPress](http://sunrises6.wordpress.com/multichaptered/necromancer/)!
> 
> Last but certainly not least, thank YOU for clicking the link and sticking with this story to the end. As I have included some edits on this AO3 version (while trying not to change anything too dramatically), comments are appreciated. Thank you!


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